35 Unfortunate People That Suffered Karma’s Petty Revenge

If you’ve never heard of it, schadenfreude is a term referring to taking pleasure at the cost of someone’s misfortune. This doesn’t need to be anything harmful; even something simple as a stuck candy bar in a vending machine that makes you think, “I’m glad it wasn’t me” counts. Of course, when you’re on the receiving end, it doesn’t feel so funny at the time. But, in the end, inconsequential errors are good for an easy laugh to make things seem less bleak. If you’re having a rough day, knowing that it could be worse can sometimes be enough to help you through. So, if you need a quick laugh, check out these 35 mundane yet frustrating circumstances that innocent people found themselves in. Disclaimer: no one was harmed in the making of this list…we think.

Oy vey

We’re entirely not sure what was the chain of events that led up to this shot being captured. Obviously, this person spilled Nesquik cocoa powder all over their computer. The key question is just what the powder had been doing over there.

They need to reconsider how they do food preparation. Sure, one might need their phone or computer for recipes and instructions, but we’re pretty sure Nesquik doesn’t require any online advice to prepare. Next time, keep your computer and powdered foods separate from each other!

How is this even possible?

Check out the following situation. You get out of bed, walk into your living area, and switch on the lamp. It powers up, but it’s a little foggy. You notice that, whereas the bulbs are working, the light fixture is completely submerged in water.

So, what comes next? We’re not quite Bill Nye the Science Guy, and we’ve been brought up to believe that electricity and water don’t get along. It’s the worst choose-your-own-adventure narrative we have ever encountered. Really sucks to be this guy.

That outta hurt

This puzzle serves as a good visual metaphor. You strive diligently and do your best, but then the cosmos turns on you like Nelson Muntz. They planned to assemble a 5,000-piece puzzle made entirely of color gradients. Personally, we don’t like puzzles, but to each their own.

Even if we despise puzzles, we can sympathize with this person. Can you imagine piecing together 4,999 tiles and coming so close to completion only to find this? Was this a manufacturing error or a naughty child playing hide and seek?

Oh, come on!

AirPods are popular, albeit extremely expensive. Perhaps that’s why they can connect to your smartphone so you can locate them if lost. It sounds like a great idea, especially if you can’t remember if you left them at work or at home.

But if you’re like this person, you’re almost guaranteed to never see them again. At best, you can track them to see if they’re on the plane, and follow them around — at least for several hours, till the battery is dead.

Sigh…

Maybe AirPods aren’t your thing and you’re more comfortable with wired earbuds. One major difference, though, is you can’t use Bluetooth to locate your missing earbuds. In that case, it’s a matter of cleaning your house and hoping to find them.

This is the worst case of two birds with one stone! Normally, we’re happy to find some loose change while cleaning, but this is going to cost some money instead. Do you think the Apple Genius Bar would be able to help with this one?

Outrage

You’d assume that with all the money that was spent going to college, the school should throw in some credit to spend at the bookstore. Or, forget about free, how about reasonable prices? College debt shouldn’t include the cost of school supplies.

You’re staring at the same 12-piece chalk set, found at two different stores. The one on the left costs 99 cents at Target. The same exact pack costs a whopping $12 in this person’s college bookstore. Let’s be clear: Target is still profitable at 99 cents, so what does the bookseller make?

Yeesh!

Even newbie chefs are likely to have some kitchen basics, like a Pyrex casserole dish. The reason Pyrex is a kitchen staple is because their products are made of a particular heat-resistant material that may be used in ovens. This person seems to have taken that too far…

The oven was set to over 425 degrees, which is on the lower end of the “high heat” setting, according to the failed chef. It’s not as if they were cooking meatloaf in the sun, however, the dish still erupted like something out of an action film.

How uncouth

Everyone thinks that they have the worst landlord, but that can’t be true all the time. Have you ever complained about a broken thermostat, only to find it’s just a display piece on the wall? If your landlord has actual ameneties, consider yourself lucky.

How long did it take these renters to notice the ruse? Was it during winter or while fiddling with all the dials on day one? This is a horrible trick, and we can only wonder how long the landlord got away with this before they finally did the right thing.

Check your pockets before laundry

Okay. We’re mature adults, entirely responsible for looking after ourselves, yet we’ve rarely done a single cycle of laundry without finding anything in our pants. Granted, it’s generally a ticket, paper, or even some cash. Nothing so damaging as what this person found.

Our first question: why was there a pen in their pocket? Unfortunately, thanks to this user, we now know what happens when a pen goes in a dryer. One thing is for sure; we’ll be thoroughly checking our pockets from now on.

House arrest

According to this user, remodeling had been going on in their house for days. She got used to the commotion and was able to sleep well enough through the noise. Unfortunately, she woke up one day and tried to head down for a cup of coffee and found she couldn’t.

We’re just grateful that this person isn’t a sleepwalker. But, seriously, were the residents of this house warned about the remodeling on the stairs? We can only hope there is a bathroom upstairs and the person can handle waiting until the stairs are fixed.

What are the odds?

One could name it Murphy’s law or whatever you want, but there is no disputing that life can be harsh and cruel. This woman was having trouble charging her computer. Upon inspection, a small plastic bead trapped inside prevented the wires from connecting.

We’re not sure what that little orange bead is…other than annoying. It takes a steady hand to remove something like that from a charger without causing any damage. Hopefully, a new charger won’t cost much because that thing looks unsalvagable.

Luck?

What could be worse than snapping your vehicle keys in half? When you’ve just driven into a campground 450 miles from home, your car key breaks cleanly in half. Thankfully, the person shared that key didn’t crack off in the ignition.

Not only were they able to turn off the engine, but the owner was able to take a trip to a repair shop. Even if it got fixed in a timely manner, this certainly put a downer on their weekend getaway.

Kitchen Nightmares

Certain people just want to watch the world burn. Some just like arbitruary chaos. One such person is the dad of this Redditor who shared this photo. They captioned it, “the way my father organizes his refrigerator. This is a slab of meat.”

It is, indeed, a hunk of loose, exposed, unwrapped steak. To summarize, he had remnants from a steak meal and simply put them in the refrigerator. Guess he needs a proper education about foods getting cross-contaminated. Don’t let Gordon Ramsay see this picture.

Tough nut to crack?

Eating healthier — aka less processed foods — usually means adding more nuts to your diet. And, if you’re trying to cut down on your waste, you’ll probably choose shelled nuts. After all, with a nutcracker, you can get the yummy part in no time.

This is either a really tough nut or a weak nutcracker. This is a reminder to everyone not to get cheap, dollar store kitchen supplies. Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best, but it will at least guarantee you can actually eat your food.

The heck?

Getting a new job is very rewarding. Whether it’s in an office or in a workshop, there is a sense of accomplishment that comes with joining a new workforce. This person was thrilled to start their job but hit a bit of a snag on day one.

The people working in the company were new, but the office itself certainly wasn’t. The stained carpet is…not appealing and certainly not a good first impression. To make it worse, a thoroughly stained desk chair that has a constant reminder of use beforehand. Yuck.

Press “F”

This is the worst version of “Would You Rather?” Do you go out and risk being caught with your pants down (literally) by a colleague? Do you try to phone a friend for help? Or do you make some unsanitary choices to save your image?

We’ve all had some similar situations with toilet paper before, but it’s worse when it’s somewhere public. The more you pull, the further away it’ll roll. There’s just no winning with a runaway roll of toilet paper. Use this picture as a reminder to keep an extra roll in the stall!

Ain’t that a…

This one may require some clarification. What you see here is a speeding ticket issued by an automated machine in Brazil. Most drivers are guilty of speeding every now and then, so getting a speeding ticket comes as a disappointment more than a surprise. But what’s special about this one?

The person getting the ticket wasn’t speeding. In fact, they weren’t even driving! There was nobody behind the wheel. The only reason the car was going more than 0 mph was that it was on the back of a truck.

Punk’d by Jack Frost

This is what happens when you fail to make absolutely sure the front door is closed properly before a snowstorm hits. It’s another one of those oopsie situations, but instead of a stained dryer, it turned their house into Santa’s workshop.

On the positive side, they can simply wait a little longer for it to melt, and they’ll have a fantastic new private pool. They can enjoy a casual dip inside the comforts of their own home! Now, how many people can say that?

Bolt in the gravel

This was one of those times when it seems that nothing is wrong until you take a closer look. This isn’t simply a picture of any random dude’s backyard, kind reader. It is, in fact, the case. It’s where someone lost a little bolt.

He needed the same bolt to secure the replacement rubber gasket along the inside of the tap. Hopefully, he eventually gave up and went shopping to get a new one. Life is too short to spend digging through gravel when Home Depot is only a short drive away.

Loss

At first glance, the tragedy that befell this individual is quite obvious — and rather terrible. Instead of the butter chicken making its way to the cook’s belly, it decorated most of the countertop, ground, sink, and cupboards. But wait till you hear the backstory.

It gets even worse. They’d been boiling that food for six hours before their flatmate’s dog claimed the whole thing. To be perfectly frank, when you see something like this, you don’t even have the energy left to be angry.

The Grinch would be proud

Nothing is sweeter the sound of kids having a good time and being the boisterous tiny bunches of excitement that they are. To be honest, exactly what sort of a grinch would you have to be to observe kids having a good time and report them to the officials?

That neighbor noticed this person’s children having a great time with their pals. Isn’t it crazy? Rather than chalk this up to chance, one neighbor protested to the homeowners’ group, claiming they were operating a daycare. Just let kids be kids, okay?

Well doesn’t this suck!

Let’s take a break from bad neighbors and kitchen nightmares for a more mundane disappointment. Stores like Home Depot are perfect for quick, cheap DIY house repairs. So, when shopping for numbers to put on their house, this user was sorely disappointed to find some tiles missing…

It doesn’t seem so bad, just that they need to restock. So, why is it on our list? It’s simple: the individual who took this photo lived at 444, and it was the only store in town that sold property numbering.

You had one job

These are the kind of situations that we won’t believe happens in the real world until it occurs to us. The text on this photo read, “Our company currently possesses 900 of such pens.” Yes, 900 pens with the message “Please use uploaded logo.”

Rather than the aforementioned logo, the manufacturers made this. Sure, they’d likely be eligible to receive a reimbursement, but consider how much time they’d spend dealing with the situation. The sheer lack of common sense displayed here is just frightening.

Wordle Hurdle

If you’ve been on social media at all in the last year, you’ve probably heard of Wordle, the popular English word guessing app. Actually, it’s not just English. It’s been adapted into around 45 languages! Now people all over the world can share in the struggle together.

There’s a certain level of accomplishment that comes from guessing most of the letters correctly on the first try. That means that you have more opportunities to fill those two missing letters. Unless you’re this person. Pro-tip: try words that have as many new letters as possible before filling in the blank.

Seems right…

Obviously, the network installer could have easily pushed the hula hoop just a few centimeters toward either side. But we can almost picture him doing that, well aware that they’ll be trapped together indefinitely and unconcerned. Can’t risk anything these days.

Clearly, simply cutting the wire and getting them driven out to fix it is not an option. However, producing the hula hoop is indeed a pain. So, there’s just one thing left to do: hire a magician. Has anyone here got the number for Doctor Strange?

Pain

Old record accumulation is a fantastic pastime. You get to be snobby and pour scorn on those who play music on laptops while also squandering your entire life’s money. For some, there is no substitute for the undercurrent sound of a record spinning.

We’ve seen things like this with diplomas and official papers with packages clearly labeled “do not bend.” Sure, being a postal worker isn’t easy, but this is just lazy and disrespectful. That is a vinyl record neatly folded in half to fit within the mailbox!

Not cool

Congratulations for having healthy eyesight if you saw this shot and automatically assumed the doorframe was missing a door. That is the account of WHY there is no door there. According to the person that shared this: “I awoke to find my door had been taken by my folks.”

Let’s just leave it at that. Woke up? So they took it out while they were sleeping? This is a gross violation of privacy but what’s impressive is that they managed to do it while they were asleep! We’d like to get ahold of a power drill so quiet.

But why?

Let’s start with a disclaimer: teachers are arguably some of the most hardworking and underpaid human beings on the planet. They are influencing the world and are deserving of more than that. That being said, not all teachers are as great as Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.

Check out this kid’s exam. We understand that teachers make mistakes, but this is a simple math problem. To get penalized for getting it right is one thing, and having the teacher show their math — and get it wrong — is just cruel.

Sigh

Even if this isn’t the world’s largest swankiest keypad by a huge margin, those of us that are techies will undoubtedly wince. Isn’t this slash all across this keyboard excruciating? We fear to contemplate what could have caused it. Perhaps an acid?

A monster attack, perhaps? No, it was only sunlight. The sun is streaming in through the windows in just the right way to melt this keyboard. Even just the sun, without it there would’ve been no life on Earth, is conspiring against us.

What have we done to deserve this?

We understand that this is a divisive topic on the internet, but cats, right? We’re not attempting to enter the cat vs. dog argument. We’re simply stating that perhaps a dog loves you more completely and is profoundly impacted by your mood.

But a cat secretly despises you and plots to eliminate you. So long as it keeps being fed, you’re fine. Usually, at least. Sometimes, as the cat has shown here, it decides to toy with you anyhow. You can’t win with cats now, can you?

Tough luck

Whenever your day starts to go awry, consider this: you’re not this guy who went to open their main door and ended up with the complete locking system. We truly hope they didn’t have any kids, dogs, or whatever is important inside there.

Because it will be a long time before they can get in. They’re not only locked out of the house, but they’ll also have to pay for somebody to let them in and get the entire lock replaced. Not a great way to start the day. Poor guy!

Branded

It isn’t the sun that affects you; it’s the dampness, says every nuisance in the workplace, in each and every office, everywhere. Well, big guy, this guy has a beef with you about that assumption. The climate in Las Vegas is dry.

Isn’t that the case? It’s in the desert. That dry heat stamped this guy with the visage of America’s 16th head of state, Honest Abe Lincoln, like a prime herd of cattle. We’re sure they regretted a lot of things at that time.

Gah!

Technology is getting increasingly sophisticated, seemingly on a daily basis. After all, the long-awaited machine insurrection is still hampered by a basic defect. That is, the technology can only be as clever as the guy who developed it. As an example, this image:

They had all of the correct answers, as you can see. They were even in the correct order. But it seems that they selected the response for the wrong letter. They were right, and it could even be disputed with a teacher, but computer programs just don’t care.

Yeesh!

“I’m only attempting to reimburse two tickets,” said the caption of this shot. You poor, naive person, you!  You thought you’d hand over your cash to an airliner and get it back so easily? Have you learned nothing from the internet about airplane ticket horror stories?

Man, we feel for this person! They were just not even at the three-hour marker when this photo was taken. Is this the plan of the airline? To test the customer’s patience and hope they give up before providing a refund?

Sadness

Every now and again, we come across a photograph that hits us like a derailed train. One of those photographs is something like this. This individual desired a candy bar from the dispenser. They picked the candy, put in the money, and hit a bit of a snag.

“Maybe I can get another one to knock the first one out,” they must have thought. It was a good plan, too. Unfortunately, the universe wasn’t happy with the idea and decided to keep both chocolate bars. Now if this image does not sum up what life feels like, we don’t know what else will.