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“Can’t Work Out The Mental Gymnastics There”: 31 Funny Moments When People Got Offended Over Nothing
Interview With Expert
In current times, it seems like everyone needs to pick and choose their words wisely, or else they’ll offend someone without even realizing it. People are taking offense to even the tiniest things, some of which make no sense. At this rate, nobody can keep up with the ever-expanding list of what is offensive.
One Redditor decided to poke fun at this weird phenomenon and asked people to describe incidents where folks got way too riled up about the least offensive stuff. You might just lose your mind at some of these responses, or not, if you aren't easily offended.
More info: Reddit
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#1
I was learning another language and someone told me it was cultural appropriation.
#2
41M with two total hip replacements. A woman in her 50s got so offended by me having a disabled parking permit that she took the time out of her day to park behind me so I couldn't leave and proceeded to call the police. The police came and cited her for breach of peace for how irate she was acting.
Angrykitten 5 months ago
If everyone approached life with the mentality of trusting that everyone else is being appropriate it would be a much better world. That person is in the handicap bathroom stall they must need it. So and so called out sick they must be sick. John is on disability he must be disabled and need that service. Sure some people game the system, but those people are in the minority and are indistinguishable from the vast majority who aren't so let's just not judge Because we can't possibly know.
#3
Me not wanting to have kids. People get so up in arms about my personal choice that has zero impact on them. As if me not wanting to have kids has somehow devalued their own children or that me not wanting to follow their same life path invalidates the worth of theirs.
Bruh, go make babies, be happy. I'm no reflection on you.
Christopher Davis 5 months ago
Exactly!! I love children, I've got multiple cousins younger than me, and we hang all the time. I'd love being an uncle and just playing with my nieces and nephews. I just don't want to be responsible for the actual life and well being of a child.
Major issues like racism, homophobia, classism, etc. shouldn’t be treated lightly or made fun of. When there is actually discriminatory behavior, it makes sense if people get offended, express their feelings, or set boundaries. But if someone is always getting upset or irritated over the smallest stuff, then it probably points to something deeper.
Let’s face it, there are people who get too easily offended, and they can’t wait to unleash their fury on any unsuspecting person. This behavior could stem from many reasons, such as unhealed psychological issues, a lack of self-esteem, feeling self-conscious about something, and even the person’s emotional state. This thread is full of people like that who can’t seem to avoid making non-issues into full-blown tragedies.
#4
Someone called me black (I am) and a white woman got offended on my behalf, correcting them that it’s “African American”. When I corrected her that I prefer black, she looked appalled and told *me* that that is offensive.
🥴
Edit: I want to be very clear that I do not have a problem with the term African American. For those not in the know, it comes from the civil rights movement in the US as a way to reclaim the ancestry black Americans had largely been denied. My only point is that it is a preference and if someone corrects your use of any term that is applied to them as an individual, it’s very easy to just say “okay, got it” and make the change. Pretty easy, folks!
#5
I was subbing a class and was told a student used they/them pronouns. I couldn't remember which student it was, so I just used they/them the whole class.
At the end of the class, the student got angry for diminishing the non-binary experience by using gender neutral pronouns for everyone.
#6
I used to send a "fun fact of the day" slack message to all my employees and peers. Just a fun way to start the day. I was called by HR because an employee of mine said that I was promoting murder on official company property. The offending fun fact: A Group of Crows is called a "Murder".
StrangeTrout 5 months ago
This. It's ignorance disguised as knowledge. But a disguise of a horse masquerading as a guinea pig.
It’s not just situations or people’s actions that might be seen as offensive; certain language has gotten a bad rap, too. That’s why many people worry and obsess over what they’re saying and whether they’re being politically correct. Surveys have found that 68% of men and 51% of women feel that too many people are easily offended over language. Adults over 65 are likelier than young people to feel the need to be careful with what they say to avoid offending others.
It becomes harder to know who you’ll offend because of how intricately language and culture are tied to people’s identities. In this day and age, social media can also magnify a person’s outrage and bring a whole lot of other people into the conversation. If many people buy into accusations against you, then it may not end so well.
#7
Had a friend who flew into a fit of rage if he sneezed and someone said "bless you". He said it was offensive to his atheism. So I used to say it everytime he sneezed. I also am not religious.
UncleJohn3000 5 months ago (edited)
I was hanging out with several guys when one of the noisier atheists sneezed. There was a brief pause, and then I heard a voice say, "Um, may the random and chaotic forces of the universe bear more propitious nasal health in your future." He was quiet for a second and then said, "I'm ok with Bless You" but it almost got past me because I was thinking, "Hey, that was *my* voice."
#9
I used to work at a theme park and I was leading a group of young kids around. I said "this way cherubs".
A parent heard it, got me written up for being antisemitic. He told my manager that I "clearly only called them cherubs because he knew they were all Jewish".
I still can't work out the mental gymnastics there.
Teutonic Disaster 5 months ago (edited)
Isn't a cherub one of those chubby toddler angels from Renaissance paintings? I kinda would've gotten "perverted" because of how those angels are always nude (as is justabout every adult in those paintings fwiw), but "antisemitic" ?!
A big impact of social media outrage is a phenomenon called “cancel culture.” This powerful force is backed up by large groups who withdraw support for a person or organization if they’ve acted unacceptably. People have been quick to call out offensive behavior in recent years, but they are still divided on the effectiveness of ignoring it or speaking up. Another survey's research found that 5% of people on social media feel that you shouldn’t engage with offensive posts, and only 4% believe that it’s important to call people out and hold them accountable.
To understand this phenomenon of people taking offense at even the slightest things, Bored Panda reached out to Teal Swan. She is a New Thought Leader specializing in human development, relationships, and trauma healing. She gave an insight into cancel culture, mentioning that “cancel culture says it is wrong to find humor in anything that is ‘sensitive’ in nature to anyone else. Cancel culture seeks to destroy history that does not align with current values, rather than to see it as history; and history as complicated.”
#10
Someone at a table next to me got mad at me at a restaurant because I said that ranch tastes better than blue cheese dip when eating chicken wings. He shouted "You're wrong." I just said "Ok" and he was looking at me like I disrespected his heritage. He kept staring at me and it was getting so awkward that I asked the waiter to move tables.
#11
I have a colleague called Hercules. When he started, I said to my manager "oh, he has a strong name" and she started freaking out like "no you CANT say that, HR will be on your case, don't say that again around me".
It is an objectively strong name on account of, yknow, the Greek myth.
#12
There's a popular breakfast joint in a town in VT. Used to eat there frequently when I visited. It's on a traffic circle, and the city puts it on the businesses lining it to maintain the grounds inside the traffic circle with flower beds. In exchange, the businesses got to put up little signs. The breakfast joint put a sign up by the pedestrian crosswalk that said "Brake for [business name's] bacon." Someone complained that it was against their religion to eat bacon, and therefore the sign was offensive. The breakfast joint ended up taking the sign down.
Christopher Davis 5 months ago
That reminds me of a time an ice cream shop got told off because they posted an ad on Twitter during a religious fasting Time.
Teal Swan shared a few more thoughts on the culture of offense, stating: “Cancel culture is a shared social attitude and custom of trying to get rid of the source of something you dislike (the person saying or doing something) rather than trying to resolve or enter into conflict with the words or actions themselves. One of the main things fueling cancel culture is our attachment to a sense of goodness. People can commit all manner of sins when they are convinced that they are doing it for the ‘greater good.’ The reason that the pattern of cancel culture does not stop is because we fall into the trap of seeing the person doing the canceling as a ‘good guy’.”
“Social media has changed the world we live in. It has given people control over canceling what they like and dislike that they never had before. It takes nothing to ‘cancel’ someone. Today, if someone doesn’t like something that someone said or did, they simply rally a group of people against that person from the comfort of their own homes and get them to do things like spread slander or collectively report the person so as to eradicate their support and to have their platforms removed. It is to consciously poison people against someone, so they turn on that person,” she added.
#13
Back when personal drones were just becoming more accessible, I was cashiering at a Rite Aid and we just put our Christmas stuff out, including a stack of cheap drones.
This kid, maybe 8, and his dad had picked up a few items. The kid sees the drones and says, excited, "oh, wow; that's cool".
His. Dad. *Flipped*.
DRONES AREN'T COOL THEY'RE FOR PERVERTS WHO WANT TO PEEK AT YOU IN YOUR OWN YARD ONLY FILTHY DIRTY PERVERTED PEOPLE WANT A DRONE
And so on, as his kid is *shrinking* into the floor.
They had already paid for their stuff so after his screamfest dear old Daddy pulled his kid out the door, still swearing and grumbling.
Torn between being thankful they weren't regulars and sorry I didn't get a chance to tell the kid, *it's not you, your dad is just a d**k and everyone sees it*. .
#14
Guy told my mother it was a good thing my father was dead because it was the only way he could escape the shame of being associated with her.
She was celebrating her football team win on Facebook.
StrangeTrout 5 months ago
Ahhh, the irrational hatred of someone who supports a team that isn't yours. It's one of the reasons I hate football.
#15
I know someone who judged a teachers social media bc the teacher was wearing shorts in her profile picture. Not booty shorts. Just regular shorts.
If you’ve said or done something that’s genuinely offensive, it’s important to take responsibility for your actions and apologize. But if you’re dealing with someone who takes everything to heart, the best way to de-escalate the situation is to remain calm. You shouldn’t fuel the fire by getting angry or aggressive; instead, respond rationally and try to understand where they’re coming from. This can lead to a rational conversation and hopefully prevent these outbursts from happening again.
#16
A friend of mine, back when she first introduced her now-husband to her parents, told me that her father for some reason thought it was a great idea to bring up politics. Her husband, very obviously not being serious, joked he was going to write-in vote for Mickey Mouse, in an effort to change the subject. Her father got very upset and came to her saying he thought she should break up with him because “he doesn’t share our values.”.
#17
When I was in college in the 90s, I was working as a cashier at a department store and some old lady was so offended by my bleached hair that she told me I was going to die of AIDS.
StrangeTrout 5 months ago
During the first days of lockdown I was in the supermarket and was followed round the place by a bloke berating me for some imagined slight. He wished, at full volume, he hoped I got Covid and died. Was terrifying and the lovely staff and customers did absolutely f**k all.
#18
I don't know if this offended anyone, but one of my more downvoted comments on Reddit. There was a video of someone fishing and he did something I didn't understand. So I asked: "genuine question here but why did the guy do this?" Someone chimed in and gave a thoughtful response. I responded "Thanks". That "Thanks" got like 15 downvotes.
R.A. Haley 5 months ago
I find a lot of innocent posts on BP with downvotes. I cheerfully pop them up my paltry one vote just to add a little balance.
If you know someone who loses their cool over inoffensive stuff, studies have shown that it all connects back to self-image. This means that they don’t like it when people question or do things that make them feel like their identity is being attacked. However, this tendency to get offended over everything can change if they try to develop their self-esteem because it can act as a buffer when their feelings are hurt. It might take a while for people get to a place where they feel totally secure, but it can help protect one’s mental health in the long run.
#19
A friend paid the check for dinner and said, "I ate the most food anyway." Another friend found it rude that they mentioned eating more food instead of "just doing it out of the goodness of their heart.".
#20
I get asked if I speak Spanish, and when I say, "I'm sorry, I don't." People have been offended. They give me an incredulous or dirty look and respond with confusion that I don't speak Spanish. Sorry???
I am white. My background is almost entirely European. Not sure if it's because I have really tan skin and dark hair and eyes, but it happens on a regular enough basis that I am perplexed. I am terrible at learning languages, my bad!
#21
Way back in the early 90s when I was in high school, I went to the lab and said, "Hey guys, is the teacher here?"
Cue the most pedantic girl in our class, "There aren't any 'guys' in here. We're all girls. Why would you call us 'guys'?"
She was so offended over a simple expression.
StrangeTrout 5 months ago
I use guys as an inclusive term for all my friends, what's the problem?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
I live in Southern California. The word "guy/guys" is gender-neutral. So is "dude", "bro", and "bruh". I have referred to my boyfriend as "bruh" and I have called my sister "dude".
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Stardust she/her 5 months ago
In Hindi “guy” means cow so whenever I say “hey guys” people take mock offence at being called cows
That Person 5 months ago
I am a female and I am all for gender equality. However, “guys” is culturally used as a gender-neutral term, and honestly, who freaking cares??????
Jaguarundi 5 months ago
I usually refer to my friends as "guys' or even "kids". We're all over 60.
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 5 months ago
I had someone get offended like that at a restaurant I worked at. I typically ask "what can I get you guys?" And this guy flipped his lid cos "my WIFE isn't a guy!" Chill out man it's just an expression.
David Beaulieu 5 months ago
This is daily at my company. We had training that recommended saying "ya'll" instead. So now all my Dutch coworkers end our calls saying "Bye ya'll!" like they are from the deep south of America.
_-DungeonKeeper-_ 5 months ago
"Because I'm talking to people. Oh, but if it's just you in here, I'm not talking to any people at all. Hey, who brought their pitbull to school, and why is it in the lab?"
Julie Chamberlin 5 months ago
Apparently, there are different regional reaction to using the inclusive "guys." I'm from the Notheast, where it's perfectly normal, but I went to college in Texas (WTF was I thinking, right?) where that expression freaked everyone out.
WalkieTaco 2 months ago
I literally refer to my friends as "dude," boy or girl. Nobody gets upset. It's easy. I have spoken
Natty Tempest 3 months ago
I can understand to a degree, but some people use it as gender neutral, others don't. 'folks' was my workaround
UselessKnowledgeFont 5 months ago
As regionalisms go "you guys" and "dude" read pretty gender neutral. As a "Northerner" I would never dream of saying y'all. Let alone "yinz"!
Brian Droste 5 months ago
Before I retired back in Oct., the place where I worked at was mostly female workers. When I was working with them when anyone would come around and say hi ladies or gals, I would keep quiet. If then say hi to me specifically then I would respond.
Jerome Lenovo 5 months ago
pretty sure i've seen girls/women use the "word' bro when talking to each other.
Sinnsyk Jakte 5 months ago
I was telling a story about a friend of mine and referred to her as 'a chick'. My manager told me not to call her that. I was baffled. I...didn't know...that it wasn't okay? I'm still not sure. I didn't tell a bad story about her. I was also on break, in the break room, talking to people who knew her...
David 5 months ago
My favorite cute correction like this was when my two oldest granddaughters were little. Little kids usually don't want to be reminded they are little. I said something like, "Would you ladies like a snack?" And the youngest one" "WE'RE NOT LADIES! WE'RE GIRLS!" LOL, okay, whatever -- do you want a snack?
Debbie 5 months ago
I call my kids "kids/children" and not "jongens". Often it's young girls who are confused by it - they learn that the plural of girl is girls, plural of boy is boys. So if there are 3 boys and 1 girl and they are adressed as "boys" - the girl feels left out. I prefer "mensen" (people) just like I say "partner" instead of boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/fiancé(e)/complication
Verena 5 months ago
Cheers from the Netherlands, I immediately thought about this "jongens", which confused me a bit after moving to here (from Germany). It is widely used amongst girls groups. The Calvé-spot didn't actually help to clarify that 😅
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Knowing the difference between important issues that should be taken to heart and small occurrences that don’t warrant that type of anger is essential. Of course, there might be situations where the line is blurred, but the posts in this thread clearly don’t fit into that category. That’s why this thread received over 3.4k comments, with people sharing their most unhinged experiences.
Have you ever encountered someone who took offense to something minor? It’s time to tell us your story.
#22
A while back, a woman in a local Wiccan society in Washington was offended by children dressing as witches for Halloween.
Edited for spelling.
Matthew Jameson 5 months ago (edited)
There's a great photo out there of a mother and her three daughters trick or treating dressed as witches. The father was dressed as a can of Manwich.
#23
A doctor on Instagram was telling an interesting patient story, and mentioned that the patient was in town for a "sportsball" game. She received angry messages about how she was demeaning sports.
#24
I spent 9 hours deep-cleaning the house for an inspection. I went above and beyond, clearing my work schedule and going the extra mile, and my roommate “double checked” my work. He had a complete psychotic meltdown because I forgot to sweep *underneath* the couch.
I moved out the next day and never spoke to him again.
#25
Me not being from the right nationality they thought it was from.
MotherofGuineaPigs 5 months ago
My daughter was in grade school and was excited for St. Patrick's day, Shirt, earrings, the whole 9 yards. The teacher tells her she is not Irish and shouldn't be dressed like that. My daughter is mixed, Mexican ancestry on one side, Irish and Belgian on the other. So I called the school and asked for a meeting with her teacher. We sat down, she asked my name and immediately figured out what the issue was. She apologized to my daughter in class the next day. It isn't even really about someone's ancestry - why would you say that to a child?
#26
I did not know what a slang term for a section of downtown Reykjavik was and apparently this made me antisemetic.
Teutonic Disaster 5 months ago
That's... oddly specific. Especially if OP happens to not be Icelandic or even not from the Reykjavik area.
#27
Wife told me it had rained overnight. I said „oh really?“. She lost it because I accused her of lying with that.
#28
Joking with a patient (in an outpatient, family practice doctors office) that we have a lab on site so she wouldn’t want me to be the one drawing her blood since I’m out of practice.
She seriously made me explain what I said, then got pissy and told me that I shouldn’t joke about things like that because I “seriously destroyed her confidence in me as a nurse.”.
#30
My coworker was called an "egg eater" while she was eating eggs at her desk and it became a whole thing.
#31
I grew up with a kid who had the last name of sprouse but every single teacher/substitute would pronounce it as spruce during rollcall and he would lose his f*****g s**t every time. like i remember i had like 3 classes in a row with him the first day of school and each time he blew a gasket. when we'd have substitute they'd do it too and everyone in class would start giggling and staring at him as the rollcall was approaching his name then predictably they'd say "spruce" and he'd start yelling and screaming at them. it was wonderful.
What do you think ?
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 5 months ago
We are pretending to be offended by this thread.
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 5 months ago
I'm pretending to be offended by your comment.
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Jess Smith 5 months ago
I hate the people calling out 'antisemitism' because it is real and it is a big problem right now but if you call out something like 'hey cherubs' as antisemitic then people are going to be a lot more skeptical when something actually antisemitic but not super obviously so comes along (think Soros control myths or, for a more obscure example, people demonizing Leo Frank).
laura lee 5 months ago
This btw is breaking my brain lol how the hell did they translate cherubs into something antisemitic?? Like I'm about to search antisemitic words and phrases, but I'm afraid how they'll change my algorithm lol not really lol more 😬
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DB 5 months ago
I have a habit of addressing male customers as "Chief". Young kid that worked for me started doing the same. One day this guy just went off on him and started yelling "Do I look like a Native American to you? I'm African American!" Poor kid didn't know what to say. I apologized and told him the kid didn't mean anything offensive but he refused to accept it and walked out.
Marnie 5 months ago
"Chief" as in "Commander in Chief" or "Chief Executive Officer" or "Chief Justice of the United States". I think the African American guy was the racist. Interesting side note is that a city in my state (Duluth, Minnesota) recently banned the use of the term "chief" in their government, or got rid of some title that included it, or something like that. Of all the things to spend time on in this day and age, and that's what they chose to do, smh.
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Hey! 5 months ago
I was named interim supervisor at my job and the first thing I did was give everyone a day off on the Monday (we were Friday). Monday was already a day off BTW. Most of them got offended that I was taking my job too seriously and went to my manager to complain. Seriously???? LOL. My manager had a hard time keeping a straight face.
Marnie 5 months ago
My own story of ME getting offended by something dumb was that I once asked a guy, "Do you like the band 'System of a Down'?" (who I love) and he answered, "I don't listen to pop music." WTF? It's not pop music. That was 13 years ago, and I think about that probably every few months (which is stupid of me).
Tyranamar Seuss 5 months ago
Trust me, no one else remembers this. Let it go. We all have some stupid thing like this we replay in our heads. No one else remembers it.
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Nerd Groupie 5 months ago
My work configuration for a bit had 4 of us cubed together and the rest of our team a bit away from us. The four of us were all blonde so we were dubbed "Blonde Island." I made a sign that said it and put it on our section. HR made me take it down because it *might* offend someone.
Marnie 5 months ago (edited)
I have one more. My son used to play with two brothers who came from a family who home-schooled. They were very religious. They had adopted some of these new fundamentalist views, and also treated women very poorly. But the family also had some good qualities and the boys were nice and well behaved. So, my son comes home and said he was banned from going there to play anymore. Why? Well, this family let the boys outside to play while the girls had to stay inside and do chores. They played with toy guns, running around pretending to murder each other. The Mom told me once when I asked her if the boys could come play at our house, and told her there was no swearing and I wouldn't let them watch TV. She said, "Oh, no. My husband would never allow that." (Okay, are you just a servant?) But my son was banned because he said the word, "stupid". He didn't CALL anyone stupid. It was just some general complaint, like when you wear a raincoat and still get wet, and say, "Well, that's stupid."
Bec 5 months ago
My niece had a good friend from school and they would have sleepovers, some weekends my niece would even go to church with them. But one weekend my SIL offered to take the girls, but then friend would go to church with them. Oh no! The dad didn't want his daughter going to their crazy pagan Catholic church where they worship Mary! My family isn't that seriously religious - the hypocrisy was ridiculous
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Damned_Cat 5 months ago
I have a friend who gets mad when instruction manuals contain multiple languages. Like, dude, this isn't the only country where they sell these things...
Michelle C 5 months ago
I'm black...I had a racist biker get mad at me for laughing at a racist joke he told loudly at a bar intending to offend me (was the only person of color there). I can't remember the joke because it was so long ago but it was funny as hell. I even called a friend to tell them this joke and they thought it was funny. What made it worse is that I was like "HEY HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE????" and told my own black joke and people laughed and the biker got pissed off and paid his tab.
HolyDiver 5 months ago
I made a joke about cancer and some random lady who wasn't in the conversation got offended. She didn't and never had cancer. I, on the other hand, was fighting stage 3 colon cancer at the time. Humor was the only thing keeping me from going over the edge. Another time, I said the word 'Tweakers' referring to some meth heads being meth heads. Again, some random lady overheard and started her rant about that being an offensive thing blah blah blah, she was not and had never used d***s. I have over 3 decades clean and sober. My entire life is based on staying clean and helping others do the same. btw, Not bagging on women. Just seems to be the common theme amongst those who get offended for others.
Tobias Reaper 5 months ago
you are no longer allowed to say good morning as it offends vampires
Marnie 5 months ago
My son and I were teaching my wasband how to play cribbage. On his first turn, he took the little dice cup and very gently and slowly turned it over so that the dice just gently slid out on top of each other in a little pile. My son and I giggled good-naturedly about that. He was so mad that we laughed at him that he never played another game with us. (This was my son's stepdad who my son called "Dad".)
Bec 5 months ago
Husband and stepson were working on a puzzle, they just started so they were pulling out all the edges. Stepson (12ish) notes some random pieces that go together so starts working on that part, his dad yelled at him! We're not working on that right now! I stormed into the room and said, you can do the puzzle however you want
Load More Replies... Violent Doll 5 months ago (edited)
One of my daughters is very tall (currently ten years old and five feet five inches tall) and always has been. Occasionally throughout her life I would meet parents at.playgrounds or other kids play places who would mention their children were tall, and I would say something along the lines of, "Oh, I know about tall kids, that's my daughter over there, she's only (however old she currently was)." Parents always got offended that my tall kid was taller than their tall kid. Like it's something that can be controlled. Always confused me.
Marnie 5 months ago
I went to the movie "The Queen of the Damned" on a first date with a guy I met online. (Never go to a movie the first time you meet someone.) We had both read the book series and were excited. After the movie, I said I didn't like the adaptation as well as "Interview with the Vampire". That's it. I didn't go on and on or rip into it. He was truly angry with me because he really liked it and seemed think that meant I thought he was stupid. Crazy. (And he ended up stalking me for months. As in walked into my house when I forgot to lock the door and my 12yo son was home alone for the 3rd time. Drove by and yelled at another guy I met online at the same time, who I ended up marrying. And sent the police to my house, and all kinds of crazy stuff.)
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 5 months ago
We are pretending to be offended by this thread.
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 5 months ago
I'm pretending to be offended by your comment.
Load More Replies... Jess Smith 5 months ago
I hate the people calling out 'antisemitism' because it is real and it is a big problem right now but if you call out something like 'hey cherubs' as antisemitic then people are going to be a lot more skeptical when something actually antisemitic but not super obviously so comes along (think Soros control myths or, for a more obscure example, people demonizing Leo Frank).
laura lee 5 months ago
This btw is breaking my brain lol how the hell did they translate cherubs into something antisemitic?? Like I'm about to search antisemitic words and phrases, but I'm afraid how they'll change my algorithm lol not really lol more 😬
Load More Replies... DB 5 months ago
I have a habit of addressing male customers as "Chief". Young kid that worked for me started doing the same. One day this guy just went off on him and started yelling "Do I look like a Native American to you? I'm African American!" Poor kid didn't know what to say. I apologized and told him the kid didn't mean anything offensive but he refused to accept it and walked out.
Marnie 5 months ago
"Chief" as in "Commander in Chief" or "Chief Executive Officer" or "Chief Justice of the United States". I think the African American guy was the racist. Interesting side note is that a city in my state (Duluth, Minnesota) recently banned the use of the term "chief" in their government, or got rid of some title that included it, or something like that. Of all the things to spend time on in this day and age, and that's what they chose to do, smh.
Load More Replies... Hey! 5 months ago
I was named interim supervisor at my job and the first thing I did was give everyone a day off on the Monday (we were Friday). Monday was already a day off BTW. Most of them got offended that I was taking my job too seriously and went to my manager to complain. Seriously???? LOL. My manager had a hard time keeping a straight face.
Marnie 5 months ago
My own story of ME getting offended by something dumb was that I once asked a guy, "Do you like the band 'System of a Down'?" (who I love) and he answered, "I don't listen to pop music." WTF? It's not pop music. That was 13 years ago, and I think about that probably every few months (which is stupid of me).
Tyranamar Seuss 5 months ago
Trust me, no one else remembers this. Let it go. We all have some stupid thing like this we replay in our heads. No one else remembers it.
Load More Replies... Nerd Groupie 5 months ago
My work configuration for a bit had 4 of us cubed together and the rest of our team a bit away from us. The four of us were all blonde so we were dubbed "Blonde Island." I made a sign that said it and put it on our section. HR made me take it down because it *might* offend someone.
Marnie 5 months ago (edited)
I have one more. My son used to play with two brothers who came from a family who home-schooled. They were very religious. They had adopted some of these new fundamentalist views, and also treated women very poorly. But the family also had some good qualities and the boys were nice and well behaved. So, my son comes home and said he was banned from going there to play anymore. Why? Well, this family let the boys outside to play while the girls had to stay inside and do chores. They played with toy guns, running around pretending to murder each other. The Mom told me once when I asked her if the boys could come play at our house, and told her there was no swearing and I wouldn't let them watch TV. She said, "Oh, no. My husband would never allow that." (Okay, are you just a servant?) But my son was banned because he said the word, "stupid". He didn't CALL anyone stupid. It was just some general complaint, like when you wear a raincoat and still get wet, and say, "Well, that's stupid."
Bec 5 months ago
My niece had a good friend from school and they would have sleepovers, some weekends my niece would even go to church with them. But one weekend my SIL offered to take the girls, but then friend would go to church with them. Oh no! The dad didn't want his daughter going to their crazy pagan Catholic church where they worship Mary! My family isn't that seriously religious - the hypocrisy was ridiculous
Load More Replies... Damned_Cat 5 months ago
I have a friend who gets mad when instruction manuals contain multiple languages. Like, dude, this isn't the only country where they sell these things...
Michelle C 5 months ago
I'm black...I had a racist biker get mad at me for laughing at a racist joke he told loudly at a bar intending to offend me (was the only person of color there). I can't remember the joke because it was so long ago but it was funny as hell. I even called a friend to tell them this joke and they thought it was funny. What made it worse is that I was like "HEY HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE????" and told my own black joke and people laughed and the biker got pissed off and paid his tab.
HolyDiver 5 months ago
I made a joke about cancer and some random lady who wasn't in the conversation got offended. She didn't and never had cancer. I, on the other hand, was fighting stage 3 colon cancer at the time. Humor was the only thing keeping me from going over the edge. Another time, I said the word 'Tweakers' referring to some meth heads being meth heads. Again, some random lady overheard and started her rant about that being an offensive thing blah blah blah, she was not and had never used d***s. I have over 3 decades clean and sober. My entire life is based on staying clean and helping others do the same. btw, Not bagging on women. Just seems to be the common theme amongst those who get offended for others.
Tobias Reaper 5 months ago
you are no longer allowed to say good morning as it offends vampires
Marnie 5 months ago
My son and I were teaching my wasband how to play cribbage. On his first turn, he took the little dice cup and very gently and slowly turned it over so that the dice just gently slid out on top of each other in a little pile. My son and I giggled good-naturedly about that. He was so mad that we laughed at him that he never played another game with us. (This was my son's stepdad who my son called "Dad".)
Bec 5 months ago
Husband and stepson were working on a puzzle, they just started so they were pulling out all the edges. Stepson (12ish) notes some random pieces that go together so starts working on that part, his dad yelled at him! We're not working on that right now! I stormed into the room and said, you can do the puzzle however you want
Load More Replies... Violent Doll 5 months ago (edited)
One of my daughters is very tall (currently ten years old and five feet five inches tall) and always has been. Occasionally throughout her life I would meet parents at.playgrounds or other kids play places who would mention their children were tall, and I would say something along the lines of, "Oh, I know about tall kids, that's my daughter over there, she's only (however old she currently was)." Parents always got offended that my tall kid was taller than their tall kid. Like it's something that can be controlled. Always confused me.
Marnie 5 months ago
I went to the movie "The Queen of the Damned" on a first date with a guy I met online. (Never go to a movie the first time you meet someone.) We had both read the book series and were excited. After the movie, I said I didn't like the adaptation as well as "Interview with the Vampire". That's it. I didn't go on and on or rip into it. He was truly angry with me because he really liked it and seemed think that meant I thought he was stupid. Crazy. (And he ended up stalking me for months. As in walked into my house when I forgot to lock the door and my 12yo son was home alone for the 3rd time. Drove by and yelled at another guy I met online at the same time, who I ended up marrying. And sent the police to my house, and all kinds of crazy stuff.)
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