Admitting that you're wrong can be a really tough thing for some people. No one likes to admit that they're the bad guy- we're all the heroes in our own story, after all. Though once that realization clicks, there's no going back.
At least you didn't lash out.
"One time I got pissed because I overheard my parents who adopted me talking about going on a trip to the beach. They both knew I had never been. Told my mom how disappointed and pissed I was.
Turns out they were planning a surprise trip for me to go to the beach. I felt so bad."
That sounds weirdly painful.
Giphy"I blew a tic tac through a straw into an old guy's face who was working at a car park booth when I was about 12 and still feel terrible about it a decade and a half later."
Awwww.
"I teach middle school, so I end up having to play the villain a lot. But one time stands out where I actually WAS the bad guy:
Last block of the day, we're working through something that is not terribly interesting. I hear a few whispers and giggles and my teacher sense goes off. Out of the corner of my eye I see that a note is being passed around the class and that's what's causing the distraction. I muster up my best stern teacher face and boom "Put that in your backpack or I'm going to have to take it."
Someone had found out it was my birthday - they made me a lovely card and were all signing it."
It's not easy having a good time.
"I was out of town and I went into a frozen yogurt place I'd never seen before with so many flavors. I kept asking for sample cups until I'd tried like 20 of them and was only halfway. It was amazingly fun!
I heard a parent giving a lecture to their kids who wanted to copy me about 'how we don't act like that man and buy ours' That just ruined it for me, so I dropped a $10 in their tip jar and left."
Don't waste the popcorn.
Giphy"I went to the movies with some friends when I was 13. Instead of US being the typical annoying loud teenagers, there were some loud women sitting in the row ahead. I didn't hear the women, but my friend pointed them out and complained to me. In retaliation, I threw a handful of popcorn at the women and cackled like a madwoman.
Turns out I misread where my friend was pointing, and I didn't hit the annoying loud women. I hit two quiet old ladies.
I felt like such an butthole."
That always seems to happen.
"I was in Tijuana drinking it up and this was in the 90s. I left a bar and when I made it outside, I realized that I left my wallet on the table.
I went back in and saw that different people were there and no wallet. I asked them if they found a wallet and all said no. I got more aggressive with them and started to threaten them if they didn't return the wallet. I was a big guy in those days and I could tell they were scared.
By this time, the bouncer is noticing and I recognize that I'd likely get thrown out soon. So I told them that I'd be waiting for them outside and would beat their butts.
I went outside and was looking in to scare them and plus I was pissed. I then reached in my shirt pocket because I felt something there. Sure enough, my wallet was in there."
A dumbass indeed.
"I was a dumb teenager once.
My sister was telling me that one of our neighbors was gay. Being the dumb guy I was, wanting some cheap attention from rumor-mongering, I tried to spread it to a friend. She went up to him that moment and ratted me out.
Turns out, my sister was mad at him because he refused her advances.
I learned a thing, I guess."
"Crazy" is a relative term.
Giphy"This goes back to my first (real) girlfriend when we were 15.
We were on and off for three years all throughout high school. She'd had a reputation for being "crazy" because she'd punched a boyfriend she had before me. All the "bros" warned me not to date her.
I did anyway. But, in true teenage douchebag fashion, we went through periods where I would hide our relationship because she was "crazy" and I didn't want to have a public relationship with her.
In retrospect, she was an absolute sweetheart. Any "crazy" behavior from her was absolutely a reaction to how douchey guys treated her, 100% including me.
She was a catch. I was an utter peanutbutter-and-butthole sandwich to her. I still feel bad about it.
We're still casual acquaintances today but I really don't know how to apologize for how I acted 20 years ago. I feel like the statute of limitations has expired and it would be super awkward now."
That's what we call karma.
"Once while working as a line cook in a restaurant a coworker said something to me (I don't remember what but I do know it wasn't anything bad) and for pretty much no reason at all I smacked him in the side of the face with a raw, marinated chicken breast. I dunno, I guess I though it would be funny.
Pretty much immediately I realized I did not live in the Monty Python universe and hitting people with raw chicken (especially for no reason) was generally an a-hole thing to do.
It sort of worked out though. Karma came around a couple weeks later when through a series of unlikely events I ended up having an entire chocolate cake fall on my head. Still covered in chunks of cake and icing I immediately sought out coworker and asked him if we were even; he almost pissed himself laughing and we actually became work friends."
They left the incel life behind.
"In middle and high school I was a sort of proto-incel, before that was even really a thing (mid-to-late 1990s). I had never had a GF and I was convinced that there was some kind of conspiracy because girls didn't like me. I was super attracted to this one girl in particular, but in true incel fashion I never actually spoke to her; I simply got more and more frustrated over time. Let's call her "Kara".
Anyway, out of the blue one day her (less attractive) best friend and I struck up a conversation, and I saw it as an opportunity. Let's call her "Tina". Tina and I developed a legitimate relationship, but in my mind I would always end up with Kara eventually. Tina was obviously head over heels for me, but I just used her to stay close to Kara.
At some point in all this, Kara did eventually get a BF and I was crushed. I was so angry. I broke up with Tina (shortly after Valentine's Day, no less). It wasn't until a few months later, when I was cleaning out all the notes Tina had sent me, that I realized what a massive jerk I had been.
Tina went on to find a much better man than myself, and I learned some valuable lessons. I'm grateful too, because that incident made me reevaluate myself and my approach to women. There is an alternate universe where I am single and on reddit, whining about "Stacey" instead of treating women like actual people and not just trophies to be won."
