Copyright BuzzFeed
"I once had the local preacher scream and cuss at me until he was red in the face, then spit on me. He was in my McDonald's drive-thru, and his card wasn't working." Reddit user NotAllAltmer recently asked the r/AskReddit community, "What is the biggest adult tantrum you have ever witnessed?" BuzzFeed Community members also chimed in with their own truly unhinged stories. In terms of entertainment value, the replies did NOT disappoint. But am I feeling a bit disappointed in humanity? God, yes! Here's what people shared: 1. "I used to work in a casino. One night, this large man came in. After a while, he became inebriated, and the manager cut him off. The man entered the men's room and finger-painted all over the walls. Then he sat back down at the blackjack table (thankfully, he washed his hands after his 'art project'). Once the mess was discovered, he was 86'd. But the guy had other ideas and refused to leave. Our two biggest security guards stood on either side of him, and he still refused to leave. Security picked up his chair. He proceeded to grab onto the table with both hands, causing the table to nearly turn over. Chips and cards went flying. After being escorted out, he took a swing at the security guard, who knocked him on his ass. Never saw the guy again, although he had been permanently banned." —silentwolf13 2. "I was waiting to check out at a big box store when there was a commotion at the returns desk. A middle-aged man was having a screaming meltdown, complete with tears running down his face, because the returns people wouldn't process anything for his lawnmower. This lawnmower was absolutely trashed, clearly used, and not a current model. The manager told him they couldn't process the return because he hadn't bought it at this store anyway. He raged about how that shouldn't matter since this store has a policy of accepting almost all returns. Eventually, he was escorted out with his lawnmower." —Anonymous 3. "I used to work at a deli. We ran out of a certain kind of ham. A customer requested that ham. I explained the situation. He turned an alarming shade of purple and, in a shaky voice, screamed at me, 'YOU HAVE RUINED MY LABOR DAY!!!' It was right before Labor Day. Then he stormed off, slamming his shopping cart into several other customers' shopping carts in the process." —LeeHarveyOswaldsDad 4. "I witnessed a woman storm into a Domino's Pizza, push past the other people waiting to pick up carry-out orders, and slam a Pizza Hut box down on the counter, shouting that it was the 'worst fucking pizza she'd ever tasted!' The poor kid working looked terrified and said that she'd get the manager. The manager, who was about 20, came out, looked at the box, and said, 'Yeah. Pizza Hut sucks. I don't know what you want me to do about it.' Chaos ensued." —ca77ywumpus 5. "At an upscale retirement community, I saw an older woman throw a tantrum because we allowed a few laborers to eat breakfast for free. These guys do great work, they're dependable, reliable, respectful, and appreciated by everyone except one old lady who was screaming in the lobby about how they shouldn't be getting a free meal." —likestotraveltoo 6. "Years ago, I was in the queue at McDonald's where a very angry woman with three kids marched up to the counter shouting to see the manager. Apparently, a few of her fries were green in color, and she rudely demanded that they refund her and her kids' meals as compensation. The manager said he'd be happy to refund her meal, but since there was nothing wrong with her kids' food, that was as far as he was willing to go. She screamed at him some more before picking up the tray and tipping its contents all over the counter. This was a full tray of food: fries, burgers, McFlurries, and drinks. It went everywhere. She was escorted out, and her kids looked utterly mortified." —ImStealingTheTowels 7. "My friend has a story about how a man threw a cup of coffee at her because the cup was pink (to bring attention to breast cancer awareness month) and his masculinity was so threatened by the pink cup that he had a 'mantrum.'" —ashoka_akira 8. "This happened at a grocery store. A middle-aged guy was arguing with the cashier about an expired coupon. When he learned he couldn't get his discount, he threw a tantrum that would make a toddler proud. He started yelling, 'I know my rights! I want my discount!' He began flinging items from his cart across the store. The highlight? He tried to storm out dramatically, but walked into the sliding doors instead. The entire store laughed as he sheepishly picked himself up and walked away. The cashier got a standing ovation. It was wild!" —Minimum_Impression92 9. "ER nurse. I was at work one day when a car crashed into the electrical box supplying my hospital. No big deal; we switched to generator power for a few hours. Well, the TVs in the ER were not hooked up to the generator, and it was Football Sunday. Had a visitor RAGE at me because he couldn't watch 'The Game.' He went completely off on me. I calmly said, 'Sir, the generator is only connected to crucial medical equipment such as ventilators and CT scanners. If you need to watch the game, you can go home and watch it!' Again, he was a visitor, NOT a patient. He screamed at me some more until security escorted him out. WTF people?" —mushybunny174 10. "For one year's Christmas exchange, we threw a joke gift into the mix (the real present was hidden within). A full, grown ass adult got this joke gift and threw a fit, saying they'd put in good money for their portion and this was shit. They literally threw the item across the room. This was in front of 20 other people. We sheepishly showed them the real gift, and they tried to laugh it off, but damn, that was awkward." —Shoddy-Outcome3868 11. "When I was 16, my very religious old man threw a tantrum because I wouldn't believe Obama was Satan, even though I had to literally explain in detail all the examples that proved he was, in fact, human. He wouldn't believe me because he saw a badly edited video uploaded by another very religious person about Obama 'transforming' into Satan. Anyway, he started crying loudly, and I decided it was my cue to leave." —Anonymous 12. "During the height of COVID, a man at Chipotle was told to wear a mask. He left, but not before hitting the wall and breaking the glass doors." —BigTuna0890 13. "I had a woman throw a dildo at my head because I wouldn't give her a refund for it. She tried to say she didn't know they weren't returnable, but I had sold it to her the day before and told her myself. She got so mad that she threw it at me. Luckily, I ducked and she missed. She then stormed out, leaving me with the dildo on the floor. No, it was not in the packaging when she brought it in." —GloInTheDarkUnicorn 14. "I once had the local preacher scream and cuss at me until he was red in the face, then spit on me. He was in my McDonald's drive-thru, and his card wasn't working. At a different McDonald's where I worked, my friend got a Golden Compass Happy Meal toy thrown at his head because the parent said Golden Compass was the devil." —ActualLiteralHobbit 15. "An older woman, probably 70ish, traveling with her even older husband, was sitting in front of me on a plane. She ordered an alcoholic drink. When the flight attendant brought her her drink, she demanded her card back, started ranting and raving, and called the flight attendant a thief. It went on and on and on, and at one point, she started crying. The thing is, the flight attendant hadn't even asked for payment yet, and definitely hadn't taken her card anywhere. This poor flight attendant had to have been the most patient person on earth. She handled it with so much grace. Eventually, the flight attendant found the screaming woman's card on the floor under her seat, where she had apparently dropped it. She did apologize somewhat sheepishly and was very quiet the rest of the flight. Meanwhile, the husband never acknowledged the situation at all, just sat there placidly while his wife screamed her head off." —Acrobatic-Hat6819 16. "I was working at the welcome desk one day, and this woman stormed in with her two kids, sheepishly following. I did the usual, 'Hi, welcome to the store. Can I help you…' thing, but wasn't fully paying attention until I heard her response. She was screaming and growling at me, looked me dead in my eyes, put her finger in my face, and said, 'YOU! I'm here to destroy you! I'm going to ruin your life.' I didn't know what to do, as she was much larger than me. She was very mad, and she wanted me fired at best. While threatening me, she was making such a scene that other employees came to see what was happening. Once they saw her, they got the manager, who had to physically block her from attacking me. Multiple grown men were helping restrain her from attacking me as she screamed at the manager about how horrible I am." "Once she told her story, my manager said, 'Yeah, that didn't happen. What you described is not how this person behaves, and we all know her really well.' He basically told her to GTFO. She was big mad and had to be physically escorted out of the store, still screaming and growling threats, with her kids still following her, looking miserable. What made her so mad? Two weeks before, I had asked to see her receipt as she was leaving through a weird side door, as I did with every other customer, because it was my job. It was wild! She returned over a week or two later, still angry, all because I said, 'Excuse me, ma'am, can I take a quick peek at your receipt, please? Thanks so much!' Apparently, I was accusing her of something. Her poor children!" —Anonymous 17. "I'm 68 and was cashiering at a Walgreens when a man threw a hissy fit because I was having trouble scanning a barcode on a small bag of peanuts. He said: 'If you're too f-ing stupid to scan a bag of peanuts, you should go to the hospital and get sterilized so you can't reproduce.' I looked at him calmly and replied, 'Sir, sorry to disappoint you, but that ship has sailed.'" —Anonymous 18. "Years ago, I was working retail at a grocery store and happened to be helping with wine and spirits. A blonde woman got in line, and at first I wasn't going to card her because she looked over 30. As she got closer to the register, I realized she looked older due to distance, yet directly in front of me, I knew I needed to see her ID. When I asked for it, she thought I was joking. When I asked for it again, she thought I was still joking until I pointed out that, unless she let me see her license, I couldn't sell her alcohol. She started screaming at me, saying that I was harassing her and that I was being rude, complaining that she shouldn't have to show her ID to anyone. She asked for my manager and told him she didn't like the policy, stating that I refused to check her out. My manager backed me, and she told us that she couldn't understand why she was being carded, stating she hadn't been carded since she was 21. She was 22." —Anonymous 19. "When I was training to work at a tanning salon, we would ask for the person's name, then look them up in our system. One woman who came in had a note in her account that she regularly uses stolen credit cards. When asked to leave, she freaked out, yelling that she would never steal and that we should just run her card. Sure enough, her card declined, and we had to threaten to call the police to get her to leave." —lovelylittleoctopuse 20. "This happened to me many years ago. A lady came in, and she was very rude from the start. I got rattled and made a mistake or two, pissing her off further. As she left, I said, 'Have a nice day!' She was incandescent with rage. She whirled around and bellowed, 'I WILL NOT HAVE A NICE DAY! I WILL NOT!' then stormed out the door. The thing is, they're double doors, and we used to keep one locked because the wind would blow it open otherwise. So she slammed into the locked door, grabbed it, and tried to wrench it open. I was legit worried she'd do damage. She flailed her tiny arms around and screamed profanity at the heavens before shoving her way through the other door. It was pretty amazing." —Pompoulus 21. "I was in a Dairy Queen, and a man busted through the doors holding a spoon (he had just ordered it through the drive-thru). He went, 'HEY! Do you guys have any REAL SPOONS???' They have two different sizes of spoons at DQ, depending on the size of your Blizzard. The guy at the counter goes, 'Sorry, sir, we ran out of the tall ones,' and he goes, 'WELL, YOU SHOULD TELL PEOPLE THAT BEFORE THEY ORDER!!!'" —shnanogans 22. "At film school, we had a teacher who was a little too full of himself. We were going to learn how to analyse and review a movie in one of his classes, and he made a huge mistake by choosing one of his own movies for us to work with. That didn't go well, since the movie above was, well, to put it nicely, a steaming pile of shit. Well, we did our work, and we all put some very well-founded, well-worded, and well-written criticism in our works, and handed our stuff over, while mentally doing the sign of the cross. We knew that this wasn't going to go down well. The next time we had a lesson with that teacher, he proceeded with having a full-blown mega-meltdown in front of the whole class, to the point where he literally started tearing up our reviews and tossing them all over the room, which he then practically ran out of while raging, screaming, and crying." "We didn't hear anything for the next few days, while the managing director and the leadership looked into the case. Then we were told that he had been fired on the spot after raging and screaming at the managing director after our class. It turned out that the man had a severe drinking problem, and that the management was already getting ready to pull the trigger on him. Our reviews were just the straw that broke the camel's back." —MBAdk 23. "I was at a car rental at the airport. I guess they didn't have the exact vehicle this woman wanted, so she sat on a bench and wept theatrically while her (presumably) husband and son watched awkwardly. I couldn't help but think she probably does this for any small setback. Vacationing with her must be rough." —Livid_Parsnip6190 24. "The one day I didn't wear my wedding ring at my retail job, I had a guy ask me out and promptly lose his mind when I told him I'm married. The interaction was great until a switch flipped, and he shrieked at me and said he checked for a ring first. Red in the face, spittle flying. My manager heard him from the back of the warehouse and came sprinting to throw this guy out on his ass. As a woman, I've had a lot of dudes get butthurt at me, but I've never had one tell me that unless a man openly claims me, I'm expected to say yes to the first man that asks. What I want doesn't matter; I'm up for dibs." —lizzyote 25. "I work retail. A police woman came in wanting to return a pair of $19 shoes. I returned them, but our system at the time didn't print out a physical receipt. It was emailed instead. She threw a fit and brandished her firearm, demanding to know my name. I refused because WTF?" —Lurchislurking 26. "When I worked at a conservative Christian university's Starbucks, an old, conservative Christian lady's total for her Frappuccino and breath mints came to $6.66. She started screaming at the top of her lungs, 'CHANGE IT! CHAAAANGE IT! THE NUMBER! "DEAR JEEESUS.' I told her I couldn't. She THREW more mints at me to ring up. I did. She called me evil and stormed off, mumbling about Jesus and calling the manager." —poopybuttfacehead 27. "This boomer couple tried to skip the line at the airport and barge through security. The staff wasn't letting them. The woman started screaming, 'Get out of my way and let us through! WE'VE GOT A PLANE TO CATCH!' Security guy, totally nonplussed, just calmly made a sweeping gesture towards everyone in line and said, 'Lady, this is an airport. They've ALL got a plane to catch.' She absolutely lost it, started screaming, and was taken away by multiple security staff to a secondary location. I guarantee she missed her flight." —Miss-Indie-Cisive 28. "I worked at the deli counter of a supermarket. A man approached the counter and yelled that the feta was cut too small. I offered to cut him a new piece. He wasn't having it and continued to scream, 'You always cut it too small!' I offered to get a new tin of feta, and he could show me how big he wanted it. Still not good enough. He continued screaming at me that the feta in the counter was too small. He kept yelling until I snapped at him that I wasn't there to take this shit, and I walked out of the deli. He then yelled at the check-out server, saying I refused to serve him, demanded a manager, and yelled at them too. I was later called into the store manager's office, as the guy had gone home to call corporate to complain about me, the check-out server, and the manager. He yelled so much on the phone that they couldn't get a word in. Over cheese." —Anonymous 29. "I used to work at Cracker Barrel. This older couple came in to eat, made such a fuss that the restaurant manager comped their bill. They left, came back 30 minutes later, and said they left their phone in the dining room. The server came out into the gift shop (where diners pay) and said there was no phone left at the table, and no phone had been turned in to lost and found. They proceeded to call her a thief, us thieves, everyone else standing around thieves, and said, 'No wonder this place is called Crappy Barrel, because it's shit, like you!' and pointed their fingers in MY face. I told them both their phone was not here and to leave the establishment now. Then the man leans in to me and says, 'You're full of sh**! F*ck you!!!' Then, other customers proceeded to rush them outdoors while telling us they were calling the police on us all. They sat in their car for 30 minutes before leaving." —Anonymous 30. "I worked in retail during the height of the pandemic. In-store shopping was still closed, but folks could place online orders and have curbside pickup. The customer had to show their ID to pick up, so we knew we were giving the right items to the right person. Corporate was VERY strict on the pickup rules, which included verifying ID through a rolled-up car window, because it meant getting closer than six feet. One guy drove up for his order and refused to roll up his window. I waited without saying a word until he did so. When he finally put his ID to the glass, it was backwards, so I asked to see the front. Dude lost his mind calling me a c*nt. I dropped his delivery in the parking lot and walked back inside, where everyone could still hear him shouting expletives at me. Be nice to retail workers, folks." —Anonymous 31. "I was once blocked and then verbally attacked on social media by a professional hockey player who somehow mistook me for his ex-wife's friend. Never mind that 1) I'm a nobody, 2) I don't even live in the same country, and 3) I didn't even know he was married. He never admitted to his mistake, and his verbal attack also led his fans to come after me. Today, he has been exposed as one of those QAnon conspiracy theorists, promoting misinformation and false news. So I'm not losing sleep over what happened. He was always destined to behave off the rails. It is still a hell of an adult tantrum, though. Even if I were his ex-wife's friend, why does it even matter? Is she not allowed to have friends? Is he not allowed to interact with her friends? I just don't get it. I can only assume that he could be one of those 'controlling husband' types." —buckyhermit 32. "At the dispensary a few weeks back, a guy told the budtender that he was very eco-conscious and didn't want his products (cannabis, for anyone not familiar) in a bag. She politely explained that she couldn't let him carry out the product because of the law, but the bags are paper and recyclable. He got super red in the face and started arguing with her about carbon footprints and whatnot, and she again politely explained that it wasn't a choice; it's the law, and she has to follow it. The rest of us in the small store watched this man get to an alarming shade of red over a paper bag. He snatched the bag from her, called her an idiot, and left. She told him to have the day he deserves." "We all started laughing and clowning on him, and he immediately came storming back through the door and SLAMMED the empty paper bag back down on the counter. Which only made all of us laugh even harder at him. At least we were having a good time!" —nuclearmonte 33. "I was working the fast food drive-thru at McDonald's in college and had a lady come in and order 300 McChickens and 300 McDoubles for a school event in a single order. She proceeds to sit at the window, expecting us to simply hand over the 600 sandwiches like any other order. When I told her it would take some time and that she would need to wait approximately 30 minutes while we made her food (and that these orders should be called in ahead of time), she lost her freaking mind. After delivering her order to her car (10 people carrying bags of food), she goes, 'Working at McDonald's can't be this hard, right?' I almost lost it." —Anonymous 34. "A woman forgot her discount voucher and decided the best way to introduce this issue was to say, 'I've forgotten my voucher. What are you going to do about it?' Despite the voucher clearly stating it needs to be presented upon purchase, I do actually have some discretion in what to do if someone forgets it. For my regulars who are polite, I'd just apply it anyway. For her, I made what I thought was a decent alternative offer: She pays full price now, but if she brought the voucher within the next two weeks, I'd refund her the difference and make a note of that on her receipt so if she returned something while I was out, she'd still get it. She disagreed that it was a decent alternative offer; she literally stamped over to the door and said, 'I'll leave if you don't honor it in full!'" "I was done with her by this point, so I just said okay and watched her storm out. Or at least presumably intend to storm out, because she forgot the door opens inwards, not outwards, and slammed into it instead. That was all for a voucher to save her about £2.50 on a £50 order." —The_Sown_Rose 35. "When I worked retail, a customer approached my register and I said, 'Hey, did you find everything okay?' He threw his items on my counter and ignored me. I rang him up, and then he demanded I call the manager. My manager came over and talked to him, and he left. The manager tells me this guy was offended because I didn't say good morning to him. A few days later, a different manager pulls me into the office because the same guy called corporate and reported me for not saying good morning to him." —Blue_foryou 36. "To mitigate resellers, our store allowed customers a limited quantity of water cases per visit after several natural disasters hit our state. After ignoring every sign and customer service associate telling her no, this woman decided to go herself, load a cart, and go to the register. Well, this lady just decided to piss herself right then and there, in her own britches, thank god, at the cash register after she couldn't get her way. She left with soiled pants and the amount of water she was entitled to. Repeat customer, too. I'd never show my face in public again." —Appropriate_Cod_5446 37. "I witnessed a man board an airplane drunk and quickly fall asleep. When they announced we'd be landing soon, tray tables up, he woke up and asked a flight attendant for coffee. She said, 'Sorry, no, it's too late. We're about to land.' He lost his marbles, swore at her about needing coffee, and called her names the entire rest of the flight. When we landed and pulled up to the gate, the captain asked everyone to stay seated, and local PD boarded and escorted him away. He acted very confused about why in the world he was in trouble." —No_Helicopter5583 38. "When I was young, I worked at a Subway. Someone made a catering order for the next day. Naturally, we prepped for it but had not started construction. We were shocked when a man walked in asking for that order. We told him it was scheduled for the next day, but we could make it in about an hour. He. Lost. His. Shit. He raged. He had spit flying from his mouth and said every word your mama told you never to say. We just stared at him calmly. This seemed to make him rage even more. He stormed off and walked toward the exit, but missed the door completely and hit the window instead. We heard the crack, and he quickly found the actual door. I went to inspect, as I could see his forehead skin from behind the counter. This man had made a DENT in the glass with his hard head. He did come back to get the food an hour later. How embarrassing." —Lightinthebirdcage 39. And: "I worked at the front desk of an optometrist's office a few years ago. This patient had gotten a bill for ~$20 in the mail and was FURIOUS. He came into the office, picked up our outgoing mail off the counter, and started throwing the envelopes at me. He demanded to speak to the finance person, who explained that we couldn't do anything about the bill because it was from his insurance. He seemed to sheepishly understand and left. The kicker? He was the local reverend." —emmaporter3 What's the most obnoxious adult temper tantrum you've ever witnessed? 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