10 People Who Learned the Hard Way That Karma Is Real

Sometimes, life has a way of serving justice so perfectly that you can’t help but sit back and enjoy. Karma always finds a way to even the score. These 10 stories prove that what goes around truly comes around — and when it does, it’s incredibly satisfying.

1.

For months, someone kept stealing lunches from the office fridge. No one knew who it was, and HR didn’t care. One day, right after lunch, we heard coughing, choking, and desperate gasping from a cubicle. It was Dave, sweating like crazy and chugging water.

Turns out, someone had laced their “stolen” meal with extra-hot pepper sauce. When he finally stopped wheezing, he tried to play it cool, but everyone had already figured it out. He never stole food again.

2.

I was at a touristy place at the top of a big cliff. People were hanging around at the top, just enjoying the view, and this one guy was eating a sandwich while staring at his phone.

After he was done, he couldn’t be bothered to find a trash can so he went to throw the sandwich wrappings off the cliff, but he hurled his phone off the cliff instead.

Piano9717 / Reddit

3.

Saw a homeless guy who was begging for change. I bought him 2 hamburgers, gave them to him and went to Tropical Smoothie. I parked the car, opened the door and saw $20 on the ground.

Then this is the crazy part: I come back out of Tropical Smoothie and as I approach my car, I find another $20 in the exact same spot. I checked my pocket, the first one was still there.

mappberg / Reddit

4.

A guy cut me in line at the grocery store. I pointed out that I was in line, and he just shrugged his shoulders and turned his back to me.

The checker on the next line over called for next in line, and he ran over there. Then the checker left while he was unloading groceries. I was able to check out and bag my groceries before his checker ever came back.

August_Ocean / Reddit

5.

A customer being an absolute jerk and treating me like a lesser being just because I work in a convenience store and was threatening to get my pay cut in half, “but then again, you don’t make that much anyway.” His card declined, and he had to abandon his items. It was glorious.

mizzbrightside / Reddit

6.

My dad kept getting his lunch stolen at work one day, so he got my mother to get the spiciest hot sauce on the market to put on the sandwich.

Lo and behold, the guy who stole it was looking red as a hot iron. They fired the guy and my dad got to eat his lunch again.

FelixthefakeYT / Reddit

7.

I used to be a zookeeper. A woman was making fun of our llama for looking ugly. The llama was a rescue who had corrective jaw surgery.

The woman pointed and laughed at our llama. The llama spat in her mouth. I gave the llama a treat and told her that she was a good girl.

MyNameIsNotRyn / Reddit

8.

A guy was catcalling a woman standing in line at a coffee shop, making everyone around uncomfortable. She ignored him, but he kept going.

When he finally got his turn to order, he leaned on the counter, still grinning, and knocked over an entire tray of freshly brewed coffee. Scalding hot lattes poured all over his shirt and pants.

The entire café went silent for a moment before someone muttered, “Guess that’s what happens when you can’t keep your mouth shut.”

9.

A guy on the train was loudly bragging to his friend about how he once found a lost wallet, took the cash, and tossed the rest. He laughed, saying, “Finders keepers.”

A few stops later, he reached into his pocket and froze. His wallet was gone. He started searching his seat, his bag, even accusing people around him.

A stranger nearby casually held up a wallet they’d just found on the floor. “Anyone lose this?” they asked. It was his. Completely empty.

10.

When my mom’s friend was 19, she crashed her car into an old man’s new car and blamed him. The man said, “I’ll pay for this, but you’re a liar, and you’ll pay for it, one day, with interest. Remember me when that day arrives.”

40 years later, she was in a supermarket, and some kid did the same thing to her. He said that she was a blind old lady, and that she must pay for his damages, and hers.

She looked at her new Mercedes, with less than 500 kilometers, took a deep breath and told him that he was a liar, and that one day, he’d pay for this mistake, with interest, and he’d recall this day, and her, and regret for being such a bad person. She was laughing when she told me.

Cynthia Ortiz / Quora

We’ve all had those moments that make you wish you could rewind time or just vanish on the spot. Some memories aren’t just mildly embarrassing; they’re the kind that creep up at 2 AM and make you cringe all over again. In this article, we found 10 stories that prove no matter how awkward your last moment was, it probably wasn’t this brutal.