'[Ex-husband] dug up all the plants in her garden and took them with him': 25+ Moments of extreme pettiness that people were very proud of

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 27, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Tell us if you dare… what's the most purely petty thing you've ever done? Nearly one thousand members of the r/AskReddit community had some exceptional stories to share. From bad bosses to noisy neighbors to impolite customers, these people have gotten their well-deserved payback. 

As mentioned in the title here, one particularly petty story involves a couple going through a contentious split. The husband snuck over to his ex-wife's home in the middle of the night, armed with a shovel, and dug up all of her plants! At least he saved the living things, some people would be petty enough to demolish the plants. And in the end, his ex-wife was so surprised by the sudden lack of plants in her garden that she just laughed it off. 

Another person was ignored by their mom on their birthday. They got back at her by waiting until her birthday and Mother's day, and then ignoring her in the same way! Pettiness knows no bounds, and you can read a bunch more great stories down below. 

After that, read about the people who conjured up some very funny workplace pranks, like one company who banded together to freeze a guy's bike to the freezer floor. 

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  • 01
    '[I] make a playlist full of the most annoying songs I knew and put them on a constant loop... hit play... at 8 AM'
    via Ivan Bandura on Unsplash
  • 02
    What's a petty revenge you're gladly proud of?
    via u/Jimbobsausage
  • 03
    forgetmenot2463 My boss kept leaving his favorite coffee mug in the break room sink, despite a sign asking staff not to do so, for the housekeeping staff to wash. I was friends with the housekeepers and resented this. So I hid his coffee mug in the back of a cabinet in the mail room and then pretended to help him look for it. It stayed there for years.
    via u/forgetmenot2463
  • 04
    lifesyndromes When my ex boyfriend and I broke up, he moved out and packed everything that was his. I later realised that he had taken all of my Tupperware lids and just left the containers. As annoying as it was to be left with lidless containers, I was in awe.
    via u/lifesyndromes
  • 05
    DismalTree4161 Hotel I used to work at had a room that permanently smelled weird because a previous longterm occupant had simultaneously operated both a candle business and a puppy mill.
    via u/DismalTree4161
  • 06
    General policy was not to put anyone in that room unless it was the only room available (and that time of the year, it wasn't). People who were jerks when I checked them in and only there for a night or two... got put in that room.
    via u/DismalTree4161
  • 07
    Mr_Lumbergh Back when speed camera vans were common in the area I was living at the time I was running some errands one day and noticed the van on the side of a fairly busy road, situated on a bend so if you were northbound you likely wouldn't notice it until you were in the curve. I had a bit of back-and-forth running around that I had to do and noticed it was still
    via u/Mr_Lumbergh
  • 08
    there an hour or so later when I passed it in the opposite direction. Later in the day I was still taking care of things and was headed north again on the same road. There was a real aggressive ahole in traffic this time, speeding when he could, weaving in the lanes to try to get ahead even though it was now rush hour and no real progress would be made, gunning his
    via u/Mr_Lumbergh
  • 09
    engine, etc. and I could see after a couple stoplights that this guy was peeved at the audacity all these other people had at having to be on the road the same time as him. He wound up at a stoplight next to me and one car behind, following someone that didn't pull away at the green quite as fast as I did so he cut somebody off to
    via u/Mr_Lumbergh
  • 10
    get over to my lane. Now he's tailgating me on the northbound stretch and I wondered if the speed trap was still set up. Because I'd gone a little quicker than the guy next to me, a gap started to open in the left lane but he's still on my because it hadn't yet widened out to full car length. So as we started nearing the curve where I had seen the trap earlier, I
    via u/Mr_Lumbergh
  • 11
    speed up a little to increase the gap, then took my foot off the gas going into the turn. Mr. Aggro Driver did what I predicted he would and punched it to overtake me on the outside right as the camera van became visible. The pop of the flash when he passed the van did put a grin on my face.
    via u/Mr_Lumbergh
  • 12
    IWantToWatchlt... Comcast wouldn't let me out of My home internet with a $10/mo ETF when I moved out of their service area. I was I enough that I reached out to a few national ISP that could provide service to our 20 data centers. Negotiate a new lower contract that saved the company a million over 10 years. Not a lot in the grand scheme but
    via u/IWantToWatchlt
  • 13
    enough to justify the migration effort. I took great pleasure in telling our Comcast corporate rep exactly why I was dumping their million. dollar a year contract.
    via u/IWantToWatchlt
  • 14
    = [. When I was 7, my brother tried to play that age old prank on me where he offered me a soda that he had previously shaken up. Somehow, I felt that something was off and instantly guessed the real reason he was offering me that soda. Ah, intuition.
    via u/IWantToWatchlt
  • 15
    I accepted the soda and, when he wasn't looking, did the ole switcharoo with his soda and mine. I drank from my new soda and watched him open the tampered one. Mwahahahaha
    via u/IWantToWatchlt
  • 16
    RulrOfOmicron P... not so much revenge but a prank, in middle school internal consistency among staff did not exist. the cafeteria people yelled at us to eat breakfast upstairs while the teachers hated that because of carpets or something. it was kind of silly hearing both sides. yelling every day so I jokingly proposed we set up a table halfway up the stairs
    via u/RulrOfOmicron
  • 17
    (where it turns around and is level) my friend ran with this idea and a few days of planning and getting supplies we set it up. it wasn't fancy but we had some snacks for it and a sign that read "cant eat upstairs, cant eat downstairs? eat here" some of the teachers thought it was funny including the principal and it stayed up for
    via u/RulrOfOmicron
  • 18
    a few days. pretty minor but we thought it was pretty funny
    via u/RulrOfOmicron
  • 19
    shut-the- -u... When I worked in retail I hated this one staff member, she would act like the manager and was just absolutely awful to be around, one day I was serving this angry customer who was just absolutely and when I asked her if she wanted a bag she said yes so I scanned the bag (it was 10c) and she started going off at
    via u/shut-the-****-up123
  • 20
    me that she has never paid for a bag and that she always gets the bags for free so I asked her who gives her free bags and she said it was the co worker I didn't like... so in a moment of pure pettiness I called my manager over and when he asked what was happening I told him the co worker has been letting customers steal
    via u/shut-the-****-up123
  • 21
    items from the shop and the look of pure horror on the customers face when she realised what she has done was absolutely fantastic, the manager then called the co worker over and Infront of the customer told her she will be charged for stealing if she ever does that again. I will forever be proud of little 17 year old me for being this level of petty, it was amazing.
    via u/shut-the-****-up123
  • 22
    antithot_broski Parked in a public parking yesterday and this lady slams her door into my car as she gets out. Pretty standard mistake, all good if she says sorry BUT she looks at me and then makes a face, turns around and starts walking away. What do I do? Smash my door into her car. She noticed. So satisfying.
    via u/antithot_broski
  • 23
    mustbethedragon I was a teller at a credit union years ago. A customer came in and started barking orders, acting as though I was her assistant rather than just someone to take deposits. The whole time she name-dropped the credit union board members, the CEO in particular. I just kept my head down and took care of her transaction. As I
    via u/mustbethedragon
  • 24
    finished, I told her I could tell the CEO she said hi if she wanted. She smirked and said, "Oh, you know him, do you?" I smiled and said, "Yes, I'll see him at dinner tonight. I'm dating his son."
    via u/mustbethedragon
  • 25
    She blanched, grabbed her stuff, and darted out the door. As I suspected, the CEO didn't even know who she was until I explained who the deposits were for.
    via u/mustbethedragon
  • 26
    Anzai I work as a postman, and when I've finished delivering I have to take packages for people who weren't home to the post office to hand in for collection. They're small, local post office shops so I have to go in and take it to the counter with the public.
    via u/Anzai
  • 27
    I went in once and went to the side of the counter to wait until they'd finished serving someone and then they get the machine I can scan to drop things off. It takes about ten seconds, and they can then go back to serving customers while I check them in. This one woman was incensed that I'd 'pushed in' and even as the staff
    via u/Anzai
  • 28
    member was trying to explain it would just take a second and she'd be right with her, she loudly made a scene and insisted that she be served first, and that I had no right to push into the line in front of her. Also mentioned she was double parked and would get a ticket if she took too long. (Also you if you do this. Park somewhere else and walk). The staff member shrugged at me and
    via u/Anzai
  • 29
    apologised and went to serve the woman. The thing is, as it turned out the woman was coming to collect a package that I was dropping off. I heard her give the name and address and realised that I was holding it in my hands, but I allowed the staff member to go searching for it. She couldn't find it of course, and it was actually earlier than the time I'd written for
    via u/Anzai
  • 30
    collection anyway, but the woman insisted she needed it today. I let this go on for a good ten minutes before saying 'oh, what was that name again, I think I have it here'. The staff member and I knew each other, she knew exactly what I'd done, and she was FINE with it.
    via u/Anzai
  • 31
    Woman stormed out after that, then a minute or so later stuck her head back in and said she had a ticket and that we were going to have to pay it for it because it was our fault. Yeah, we didn't pay for that ticket.
    via u/Anzai
  • 32
    AverageStephen Guy at my job tried to get me fired via manager and owner because he wanted my position (I had better shifts and made easily twice what he did) and got caught stealing and fired. I saw him out and about a year or so later and he lost his house and wife over it.
    via u/AverageStephen
  • 33
    I guess it wasn't really revenge because I let it play out... But it still brings a smile to my face a decade later.
    via u/AverageStephen
  • 34
    shastabh Told this story before, but got ultimate revenge on a coworker. Background: this person was the classic backstabber. They'd hover around people at work and listen to what others were up to, then use that information to run to their boss and present it as their own. The boss wouldn't know any better and they'd
    via u/shastabh
  • 35
    get promoted, only to have the same thing happen, but this time in the bosses circle. By the time the circle of colleagues caught on, he was already moving up again. Took credit for tons of I a lot of people off, but kept moving up: project manager, sr pm, manager, associate director, etc..
    via u/shastabh
  • 36
    What I noticed: he was charismatic, able to listen to a lot of ideas and spin them as his own. But... didn't actually understand the subject matter. So, when someone really high up left the company, I stepped in. At this point, he had entered my circle of colleagues and I knew what he was up to. So I dropped hints that moving up in our company was dangerous
    via u/shastabh
  • 37
    (because we had been bought out) and the new company was looking to chop that layer. I lied, saying that the person that left did so because he knew it was coming, and that set the stage. On top of that, I indirectly let him know that there was an opening in that other company. In short: I got him to leave our company, join the one where our former colleague went to. It was a position waaaay
    via u/shastabh
  • 38
    above our level, and above his head. I convinced him he could handle it and that if things went wrong to just rely on our former colleague. But, that former colleague was rehired by my new parent company, leaving him all alone in a job he couldn't do. By that time, enough people caught on to him so he had no chance of ever coming back.
    via u/shastabh
  • 39
    He lasted a month in his new position before being thrown out, tried other companies, but he'd I off so many people at my place who had eventually went to others in our industry and spoiled his chances at all of them. He eventually switched industries dropped 5 levels and is trying the same another industry. in lol you melvin.
    via u/shastabh
  • 40
    WeirdConnections Last year for my birthday, my mom said she would take me out to dinner anywhere I wanted. Cue to the actual day and she doesn't call or even text me, doesn't show up. Had the audacity to say "well, you didn't call or text me either".
    via u/WeirdConnections
  • 41
    For reference, my mom's birthday is around mother's day each year. This time it was two days before. I wished her a happy birthday, and a happy mother's day. Asked her if I could come to her house sometime (last week) to celebrate. Of course she agreed.
    via u/WeirdConnections
  • 42
    I didn't show up lol, and haven't heard from her since. I actually do feel bad about it, because I know she wasn't expecting it (whereas I know what to expect from her). I feel guilty, but I am proud that I stood up for myself this time and gave her a taste of her own medicine.
    via u/WeirdConnections
  • 43
    U I was fired from a job when I exposed the new boss's ineptitude. I asked for a reinstatement but was denied. So went to a group of attorneys that handled litigation for software companies. Told them how this company would buy a new copy of an application and install it on 400 workstations. And copy the manual, and train employees
    via u/U-dun-know-me
  • 44
    on these and acknowledge in class that everything was pirated. The owner is using company funds to pay for his mistress's Lexus lease and her rent. He also was so cheap he tried to ration consumption of pencils. With my evidence, the attorneys sued and won $250k from the owner. That hurt him bad. My regret is he survived writing the check.
    via u/U-dun-know-me
  • 45
    oam1989 Back in high school, I was around 14 and sat very close to the classroom door. One day, someone knocked, and I opened it without thinking. The art teacher got mad and told me not to do it again because she didn't give me permission to open the door, asking if I thought I was the doorman.
    via u/oam1989
  • 46
    I was shocked because I didn't think it was a big deal. Thirty minutes later, there was some knocking again. I waited for the teacher to tell me something, and she did —she told me to open the door. I simply replied, "I'm not a doorman; come and open the door yourself." She sent me to the principal to get a reprimand, but I didn't get any.
    via u/oam1989
  • 47
    FrOskiest There was a guy in my college freshman year in my friend group who would always roast me. He was a gamer so I got him into WOW. I have high levels on both factions so I would play on the same faction he was to help him level. I told him to turn war mode on for more experience (pvp mode).
    via u/FrOskiest
  • 48
    Then I'd tell him I had to run to the bank real quick, and then switch to the opposite faction max level toon. I'd find his location then gank him until he got mad, then told him I'd find the guy who was doing this and switch back to the other toon. I'd feign a little hunt for the other guy (myself) and told him I scared him off.
    via u/FrOskiest
  • 49
    I'd do this at a rate that he didn't rage quit but enough to him off, I'd ease up at times so he wouldn't get too mad, but I'd do it our entire time leveling. He never caught on.
    via u/FrOskiest
  • 50
    Profanity_party7 Not something I did but something I witnessed. Good friend of mine divorced her husband, after she kicked him out of the house, he came back one random night and dug up the all plants in her garden and took them with him. It
    via u/Profanity_party7
  • 51
    was so labor intensive and petty that she wasn't even mad. She just laughed and said she was so impressed she'd almost take him back if he'd put THAT amount of work into the marriage in the first place
    via u/Profanity_party7
  • 52
    IceCreamDream10 I had a boss at a restaurant that used to steal my tips and call me a and stupid. One day I quit in the middle of my shift, caused a massive scene talking about all of the illegal she does, flipped her the double bird and called her "the biggest I've ever met" in front of everyone. Is that petty? Idk but I'll never feel bad about it
    via u/IceCreamDream10
  • 53
    trevb75 I once moved into a rental house that really suited me at the time, newly married and had a yard and a shed so I could work on my cars. I worked afternoon/evening shifts at a servo (gas station) so would tinker around lunch to mid afternoon or later afternoon on my days off. EVERYTIME I made noise other than normal speaking volume this old next
    via u/trevb75
  • 54
    door would shriek about how this wasn't an industrial complex etc etc. She however could mow a sizeable yard without needing to empty the catcher because she mowed literally every other day. So one afternoon I'd had enough so I got out my mower and ran it at full revs in my yard right outside her closest open window and walked away and let it run till it ran out of petrol..... ended
    via u/trevb75
  • 55
    up breaking the lease to get away from her and moved to a little property on the edge of town which funnily enough had lots of parramatta grass growing there. So over the next few days I collected a backpack sized bag of seeds and spread it all over her pristine lawn around midnight the last night we were there.
    via u/trevb75
  • 56
    RickyBobby0_1 Im a diesel fitter. Heard a dude talkin about me at work. Next day he rings the phone asking for a fitter to come and fix his vehicle because it was broken down and there was 30mins left till quitting time. I knew it was him. So i told him i was busy and to call workshop which would of been easy an hour plus wait for the fitter from
    via u/RickyBobby0_1
  • 57
    the workshop to even get there and fix it. And i wasnt busy. I was sleeping in the crib room. Moral of the story. Dont talk
    via u/RickyBobby0_1
  • 58
    S. Mayor of the town was my neighbor, I had backyard chickens not hurting anyone... He got a law passed to make it illegal. So I bought wild turkeys (protected wild life in my area) raised them then at night would put feed on top of his car and teach them it was there.... Used to over it. all
    via u/seekington
  • 59
    Also buried a barrel of rotting fish at the property line with a small vent covered by a plant... And lately put a motion sensor sprinkler where some random guy from up the street walks his dog on my property to let it time it went off I died first laughing.
    via u/seekington
  • 60
    Chimerain My ex (who cheated on me) loved a show on Amazon Prime that I never watched; after we broke up, I saw him post about having watched the penultimate episode and being excited for the finale, and I realized he was still secretly using my account... I promptly cancelled it, because I never really used it anyway. Sorry,
    via u/Chimerain
  • 61
    covalentcookies Went to give a guy a 10% raise. He said that's what you give a janitor. I told him great idea, so I rescinded the raise and walked over to the janitor and gave him the $ increase the other employee was set to receive ($10,000) annually.
    via u/covalentcookies
  • 62
    PewpyDewpdyP... Years ago I lived in a six plex with my ex. There were three people (one man and two women) who recently moved in above us who all worked in the restaurant industry. Almost every weeknight they'd come home at 2:00am and proceed to BLAST their TV which was located above our bedroom. One night I finally had enough and went
    via u/PewpyDewpdyPantz
  • 63
    upstairs to knock on their door. The man answers and I proceed to ask him why his TV is so loud. He then informs me that it's probably the SUBWOOFER. I ask him if he could turn it down and he responds with something along the lines of, "Well, after a long shift we all like to wind down and watch a movie. Turning off the subwoofer would decrease the quality of the
    via u/PewpyDewpdyPantz
  • 64
    experience." I asked if he was serious and he just stared at me blankly. So I went back downstairs and informed my then gf of what happened and we devised a plan. All she had to do was take my dog to the office with her the next day. Little did the neighbours know that I had a full DJ setup ready to go with two KRK Rockit 5 monitors.
    via u/PewpyDewpdyPantz
  • 65
    I woke up at 5:00am to take my dog out for his walk and get ready for work. I then proceeded to make a playlist full of the most annoying songs I knew and put them on a constant loop. Songs like Hamsterdance, Friday by Rebecca Black, Cotton Eyed Joe, Crazy Frog etc. I set everything up so all my gf had to do was hit play on her way out at 8:00am, which she did.
    via u/PewpyDewpdyPantz
  • 66
    Never had to deal with the subwoofer again.
    via u/PewpyDewpdyPantz
  • 67
    Tricky_Confusio... Hooking up with an ex who cheated on me and telling her fiancé who she cheated on me with about it.
    via u/Tricky_Confusion_633
  • 68
    lilacfinch Had a guy almost run me over in a grocery store. parking lot to pull in next to my car so close he almost hit it. After almost hitting me and my car he got out and walked into the store without even looking at me. So I did what any reasonable person would do and slammed my door into his car over and over again until there was a nice dent in it.
    via u/lilacfinch
  • 69
    MordaxTenebrae Not mine, but happened to a family member's coworker. He apparently ghosted some girl he went out on a few dates with, and in revenge, she posted some sort of online ad of his car (something like Acura/Lexus level, I don't fully recall the brand) for $1k on fire sale ~ with some excuse that he was getting deported.
    via u/MordaxTenebrae
  • 70
    She posted his real cell number, so he kept getting inquiries for a few weeks before he ended up changing phone numbers.
    via u/MordaxTenebrae

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