There’s no excuse for theft if you’re rich enough to go to an amusement park. If you’re thirsty or hungry, there are usually plenty of vendors around. Unfortunately, some people feel so entitled that they don’t mind ‘borrowing’ someone else’s things without thinking about the consequences.

Case in point, redditor u/mayumochi, an amusement park employee, went massively viral after sharing her story of petty revenge. She shared how she spotted a family who stole her reusable water bottle and then scared them by lying that she had an STI. Scroll down for the full story, including how the internet reacted to the situation. Bored Panda got in touch with the author of the popular post, u/mayumochi, and she was kind enough to answer our questions. Check out our interview with her below.

You should not go around drinking from strangers’ water bottles without their permission

Image credits: RDNE Stock project / pexels (not the actual photo)

An amusement park employee shared how she scared an entitled family who stole her property

Image credits: Ellie Burgin / pexels (not the actual photo)

She later answered some people’s questions in an update

Image source: mayumochi

“Due to the current summer, it has been absolutely brutal out here, which made me even more annoyed that my bottle was stolen”

Image credits: cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo)

“To be honest, I really did not expect it to go as viral as it did. I thought it would be a one-off post that would probably go unnoticed and just be buried if I’m going to be frank,” u/mayumochi told Bored Panda. At the time of writing, her post has 20k upvotes and 1.5k comments.

We asked the author what her initial reaction was when she realized that her water bottle had been stolen. “Initially, I was a little shocked and disgusted that someone would steal a used water bottle. But after seeing them give it to their child to drink, I guess a switch just flicked in me, and I really wanted to just kinda give them a lesson to learn,” she explained why she did what she did.

“I remembered I had a mouth ulcer for the past few days, which I could pass off as a sore of some sort due to the common misconception they’re both the same. I also remembered another story on Reddit, where a guy was bit by a kid and he lied about having AIDS, so I just remembered that in the moment and used another, less serious disease,” u/mayumochi said.

The author opened up to us that she personally likes her job when we asked her about the pros and cons of being employed at an amusement park.

“I’ve worked at this theme park for a few years now, and there are a few pros, like the pay being better than a waitress (don’t have to rely on tips!), and overall, the staff tend to be quite friendly,” she told Bored Panda. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Or, rather, there might be a tad too much sunshine.

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“Some cons involve being exposed to the elements. I work in a park, which shall remain unnamed, in the southwest US, and due to the current summer, it has been absolutely brutal out here, which made me even more annoyed that my bottle was stolen.”

Herpes simplex is incredibly common, and most American adults are estimated to have it

Image credits: varyapigu / envato (not the actual photo)

The author pointed out that she only had a mouth ulcer, not oral herpes like she pretended to. But this doesn’t change the possibility that some infections—both minor and serious—can spread by sharing other people’s bodily fluids.
Mouth ulcers, according to the Cleveland Clinic, are small sores. They usually form on your gums, lips, tongue, inner cheeks, or the roof of your mouth.

Many of them go away on their own, but others might require treatment. They can be caused by a variety of factors, ranging from emotional stress and hormonal changes to minor injuries.

Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates that 50% to 80% of adults living in the United States have oral herpes, a very common infection of the mouth area caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1. Meanwhile, around 90% of adults are said to have been exposed to the virus by the time they turn 50 years old.

Oral herpes can spread through intimate contact with someone who is infected. The best way to prevent the spread of the infection is to avoid physical contact with the person’s sores, e.g. not to kiss them.

Once you’re infected, you will have the virus for the rest of your life. The virus lies dormant in a group of nerve cells while it’s inactive. Some folks will never even develop any symptoms of the virus. Others, however, will have periodic outbreaks.

Herpes simplex outbreaks can be triggered by a range of different factors, including emotional stress, fever, physical injury, menstruation, surgery, or even prolonged or intense exposure to light.

There’s really no excuse for going out of your way to steal an employee’s reusable water bottle

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Image credits: Andres Ayrton / pexels (not the actual photo)

Whether or not you feel that the author was right on the money with her response or too harsh to terrify the family, you probably agree that the amusement park guests should not have stolen her water bottle.

First of all, it’s incredibly rude, disrespectful, and frankly immoral to take someone’s stuff without asking first. If everyone and anyone felt free to take other people’s property, civilization would break down very quickly. Imagine mass theft on a society-wide scale.

Secondly, the entire situation is a reminder that you should not drink from random containers or eat from other people’s plates if you don’t know them. You cannot, in fact, know that they’re perfectly healthy. You never know if someone might have a cold, the flu, or a more serious infection.

Thirdly, drinking out of a stranger’s water bottle instead of bringing or buying your own reeks of laziness. Pure and simple. To put it bluntly, you’re not setting a good example for your partner or your kids if you nab someone else’s stuff. You’re going on a ride at an amusement park, not homeless and starving. There’s a world of difference between the two situations.

There’s also the ‘ick factor’ to consider. Why would you drink out of some stranger’s water bottle? Why would you give it to your partner? Why would you then hand it to your kid? It’s astonishingly short-sighted because you don’t, in fact, know whether the owner of that bottle has any infections.

What do you think of the way that the amusement park employee handled the situation, Pandas? What would you have done to call out the thieving park guests? Why do you think anyone would want to steal a stranger’s water bottle? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Here’s what some internet users said after they read about the tense situation at the amusement park

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