10 Times Arrogant People Got Humbled Faster Than Their Ego Could Recover

We love a good dose of instant karma, especially when arrogance meets reality. These real-life stories show how overconfident people got humbled in the most unexpected, viral-worthy ways. From workplace show-offs to know-it-alls, here are 10 times ego met its match.

1.

• I boarded a long-haul flight, and a well-dressed man demanded I move my backpack, implying I didn’t belong in First Class. He sneered, “Some people just don’t understand luxury.” I ignored him and sat down.
  10 minutes later, he turned pale when the flight attendant said, “Sir, there’s been a mistake. Your upgrade isn’t valid.” He frowned, of course, saying that can’t be right. But turns out the original ticket was economy.
  The entire cabin went silent. Then, as he was escorted past us, dragging his designer luggage toward the back of the plane, someone quietly whispered, “Guess some people really don’t understand luxury.” I couldn’t help but smile. Sometimes karma doesn’t need turbulence to hit hard.

2.

• A girl in a forum kept spoiling Star Wars series for everyone, even bragged about it. She said she couldn’t do it to her boyfriend because he’d get mad. So, I dug into her profile, found her BF, and sent all her messages from the forum.
  Later, she texted me saying, “I hope you’re happy. He broke up with me.” I replied, “Now you know how it feels to have something you care about ruined.”
  She hasn’t posted a spoiler since. Turns out karma has a lightsaber too.

3.

• “I have a friend whose pumpkin\fall display at the end of his driveway would be run over by the neighborhood jerk. Happened every year.
  My friend decided to put a stop to it. He withdrew money from his savings account so he would have enough to buy the largest pumpkin he could find, along with several large bags of Quickset, filled that puppy up and made a real pretty display.
  He broke the axle of his car when he hit that pumpkin. Could not drive away. My friend had his car towed away, too.” © cuddle*******monstr / Reddit

4.

• A dude at my gym loved flexing, grunting, and correcting everyone’s form like he was the trainer.
  One day, he laughed when I was deadlifting and said, “You’ll hurt your back doing it like that.” My trainer, an actual certified coach, overheard him and challenged him to lift the same weight.
  The guy went for it, screamed halfway up, and dropped the bar so loud everyone stopped. My trainer calmly said, “That’s what bad form looks like.”

5.

• “My brother-in-law did something to irritate my wife back when they were in high school. My wife turned off the TV, wrote ’broken’ on a piece of paper taped to the TV, shut off the power strip, and flipped the batteries around in the remote. Took my brother-in-law several days to figure it out.” © SteevyT / Reddit

6.

• “At my previous job, we had separate refrigerators for the different shifts. Our food was constantly being stolen or messed with.
  One day, my buddy and I decided to make a nice cherry cheesecake... out of cooking lard. We finished it off with Graham cracker crust and cut a couple of slices out of it since we knew the thief wouldn’t be brazen enough to take the first bite.
  We never found out who the thief was, but we never had to worry about anyone messing with our food ever again.” © chiefpompadour / Reddit

7.

• There’s this guy who comes into my café every morning, barking orders like he owns the place. Always complaining the espresso’s “too acidic” and that I “don’t know proper crema formation.”
  One day, he brought his date and loudly bragged about being a “coffee expert.” So, I handed him the portafilter and said, “Go ahead, show me.” He smirked, then spent five minutes fumbling, spilling grounds everywhere, and jamming the machine. His date excused herself halfway through.
  Turns out, she’s a barista. At our rival café.

8.

• “I used to work doing stucco in East Texas. One guy just never paid us, so we spent a day tearing down everything we worked on.
  Another time, while working for a small machine shop, a customer kept giving us the runaround about paying for some work we did. It was all a walk-in job. Paid half up front and would pay the rest at pickup. Well, he needed his part NOW and would pay us the remainder in a month or so.
  So....... We cut his part in half and said we’ll give him the other half in a month or so. Lesson of the story, don’t mess around with contractors.” © ColorfulCubensis / Reddit

9.

• At a party, this guy found out I was a plumber and made some crack about “blue-collar IQ.” I just laughed it off.
  Two weeks later, he called a plumber through my company because his basement was flooding. Guess who showed up? I charged him double for the emergency call.
  He tried to argue. I pointed at his burst pipe and said, “Looks like I’m the one fixing your mess now, professor.”

10.

• “In high school, my best friend (friends since the 3rd grade) had a relationship with my BF of two years. I found out and stopped talking to her. She then starts dating this really hot guy a year older than us, and I became his friend.
  We turn into really good friends and after a year of her being with him and him being my new best friend, he finally admits he has feelings for me. He then dumps her and I get the satisfaction of watching her cry in the parking lot.” © Worth17 / Reddit

In the end, a little humility goes a long way. These stories remind us that staying kind and grounded will always outshine arrogance.
Read next: 10 Stories Where a Small Act of Kindness Made Someone Feel Truly Seen