40+ PEOPLE REVEAL THE BEST CASE OF INSTANT KARMA THEY'VE SEEN
What goes around comes around. When you do something good, the universe will reward you, and when you do something bad, you'll get your payback. It's called karma, baby!
From schoolyard bullies getting served justice to people who did acts of kindness winning the lottery, these people took to Reddit to share the best case of instant karma they've seen. You won't believe how powerful karmic justice can be.
Bench Karma
.U/VariousHandSoaps: "It was my own karma. I was in eighth grade. I was standing on a bench when I watched some girl fall over in the yard, started laughing and pointing and then went to lean back onto the fence that was behind the bench.
Turns out it had broken off where I was standing and I fell straight through and into the mud."
Highway Justice
U/nosidammadison: "I was driving home on the highway during a horrible blizzard at night. The roads were extremely slick and dangerous, I was going about 30 mph. My daughter was a newborn and it was the first time I had ever driven in the snow with her. I was nervous. Some jerk in a huge truck is doing 65, passing everyone in the slow lane and just being really risky and ignorant to the conditions and other drivers in general. He passed me, and I was like, 'You're gonna crash bro.'
Right at that moment, the dude fishtails, loses control, and crashes into a ditch. Don't worry, I'm not a sadist, he was completely fine. I know this because I saw him emerge from the truck and do a little angry freak out dance. His truck wasn't fine. That's what you get for endangering others during a blizzard!"
Caught Red-Handed
U/Grey_Gryphon: "Kid in middle school kept trying to steal my cellphone (it was a cheap flip phone, but he'd do it just to piss me off). Our school had a rule that you couldn't have your phone out in class. Teacher left the classroom for a second to have a brief word with an administrator…kid grabbed my phone.
Teacher came back in a moment later and caught him red- handed with (my) phone out. She wouldn't believe it wasn't his phone. He got detention."
Patience Pays
U/DrDudeManJones: "My dad told me this story. He was driving back from the shore when traffic got really bad. About a mile ahead, there was an accident that had brought traffic to a crawl…my dad decides to be patient about it. Others weren’t so patient. People began driving on the shoulder in order to get ahead of the traffic. This pisses my dad off.
He thought about following this stream of cars onto the shoulder, but he decided he’d do the right thing and wait. As he got closer he saw two cops in a parking lot. One cop was directing all of the shoulder drivers into the parking lot, while the other wrote all of those drivers tickets. He describes it as one of the most satisfying things he’s ever seen."
Kind Samaritan
U/thewerepuppygrr: "I was working in a supermarket when panicked customer A came up to me and said he'd accidentally left his cash in the ATM and had anyone handed it in. I was about to say no when customer B appeared behind him and said he'd been trying to catch up to him - he'd been queuing behind him at the ATM and saw what happened, so he'd got the money for him.
It was £200 so a decent amount. Customer A was super grateful and offered him some of the money but he wouldn't take it. Customer B then bought a scratchcard, scratched it, and found he'd won £5. Not a whopping amount of karma, but karma nonetheless."
Divided Consequences
U/Scrappy_Larue: "I was driving into a construction zone where three lanes converged to one. Right at the point it became one lane, a car tried to pass me on my right. I slowed down so he wouldn't hit me, but he ran over one of those metal lane dividers.
It got caught up in his back right wheel well and went around a few times. I could see and hear it make a mess of his fender. Last I saw he was pulling over to inspect the damage."
Spicy Revenge
U/FelixthefakeYT: "Not instant, but karma none-the-less, 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."
Lamp Post Lesson
U/xKamanah: "In elementary school, all the kids went to the bus stop together. As we walked, one of the 2nd graders ran into a lamp post. One of my classmates couldn’t stop laughing.
We crossed the street and he was still laughing his a-- off and didn’t look where he was going. You know what’s coming - he ran into a lamp post as well and instantly got laughed at."
Signature Fall
U/potatosunday: "Was at a show jumping event and a little girl went up to a famous show jumper with her book of famous riders and asked him to sign it. She couldn’t find him in the book and asked if he could help her.
He responded find it yourself and walked away. In his final round (after the incident) worth 100,000 dollars, first jump the horse stopped and he fell face first into the floor. Not going to lie I was laughing."
Humorous Karma
U/sk8erguysk8er: "I was walking to the store with a friend when we were 13. We heard someone yelling at us and turned around to see some kid about 50 feet away. He was yelling and calling us F------ and every other h--------- word you know at that age. As we started to walk over to confront him he did a 180 and started running while turning.
Well he spun around and ran face first into a tree and hit it hard enough that he fell to the ground from the impact. We couldn't stop laughing and hopefully that was enough embarrassment for him to learn a lesson."
Instant Payback
U/Funandgeeky: "I was driving on a two-lane road through a neighborhood. The road had a lot of turns, and the double-yellow line was a clear indicator that passing was not allowed. I was driving the speed limit for the neighborhood, 30mph, when this car comes up behind me and passes me.
Two seconds later, a police officer, who just happened to see the whole thing from an upcoming intersection, flashes his lights and pulls the guy over. That was great."
Mix-Up Mercy
"I was having lunch when a woman barged into the cafe, accusing me of stealing her wallet. Woman: I know you took it! Give it back now! Me: Excuse me? I don't even know you! Before I could explain, a police officer walked in. Officer: Ma'am, is this the person who stole your wallet? Woman: Yes, officer! Arrest them! Without missing a beat, the officer turned to her, and told her to think carefully about what she was accusing.
The woman insisted it was me, and the officer sighed. Then he turned to me, and shook my hand. 'Hey there, Chief Summons, it’s good to see you on your lunch break. Please, pardon the interruption.' Then, he turned back to the woman, who had gone bright red, and dismissed her from the cafe."
Bingo Blessing
U/ladygerard: "Not quite instant, but my mam came to my city and brought me home to look after me after I was wrongly discharged from acute inpatient care in the hospital, this cost her a lot of money in both travel and lost hours at her job. I didn't ask her to do this but she is a wonderful person so she did anyway.
Whilst I was home, she had an evening at the bingo with her best friend, and they won over £1000, which covered the costs she had had to spend to look after me :) I love my mam so much."
Bird Bomb
U/Kaiden103: "I was playing volleyball with a group of my friends a few years back. One of the guys who is just an acquaintance of mine was known for being unreasonably angry. Throughout the whole game he’s being a total d--- to everyone, yelling and screaming, citing the rules and saying everyone is breaking them.
Eventually we all had enough so we just unanimously kept egging him on and acting dumb on purpose to fluster him. At one point he gets so mad that he got on both his knees and started screaming, while he does this a lone pigeon swoops by and takes a s--- on his face. The rest of us laughed about it for weeks"
Laughing Stumble
U/sonia72quebec: "My SO was b------- at me because I wasn't walking fast enough. I stubbled a little trying to be faster (I'm only 5'4" and he's more than 6'). He laugh at me saying that I never look at where I'm going…
Two minutes later he trips and fell completely flat on his stomach, in front of a lot of people. I smiled. (No I'm not with him anymore)."
Complete Stop
U/btbarrier: "My neighbor followed me down my driveway to yell at me for not coming to a 'complete stop' at the stop sign. I apologized politely (even though i knew he was being petty as we live on a dead end quiet street).
He then proceeded to yell & curse at me as he backed out of my driveway but as karma would have it, he backed into my tree & dented his whole side of his car & ripped his mirror off. He then proceeded to fly off down the road & didn’t break for the stop sign."
Icy Laughter
U/Lizpuff: "I was walking thru an incredibly icy parking lot when I slipped and fell on my b---. A truck full of guys drove by and rolled down their windows to yell out mean things to me and laugh at me.
They went up the row and took the turn too fast and crashed into a light pole. I laughed at them as I walked past their smoking truck."
Miss Tumble
U/QueenInTheNorfff: "A girl I knew and didnt particularly get on with was talking to some friends rather loudly and nastily about me, some sort of b------- attempt to intimidate me whilst she was very d---- and wobbling all over the place in a total state.
I chose to ignore it even though it put a huge dampener on my evening. Literally no more than five minutes later she fell down the stairs and broke her collarbone."
PS3 Reclamation
U/TheFencingCoach: "I was at a Target in DC on Christmas Eve doing some last minute shopping. A middle aged guy was walking out with a new PS3 when all of a sudden a mugger slugged him in the stomach, took the PS3, and took off running frantically.
Little did the mugger know as he ran, that a police officer was about five paces in front of him. Within just two seconds of mugging, he took a clotheslining night stick to the face and was on the ground out cold. The guy got his PS3 back and was fine."
Traffic Jam
"While working for the fire department, on a call for a multi vehicle rollover accident on the interstate. We got on the interstate one exit away, running into traffic, so we moved over to the emergency lane with lights and siren…a BMW pulls in front of us trying to cut through the traffic, he didn't even look.
I laid into the air horn and he came to a complete stop, with his middle finger out the window. He got out of his car and started screaming at us. I looked out at my mirror to see a highway patrolman running between lanes towards us..he was pissed. BMW boy was immediately arrested, his pretty car got pushed out of the way into a ditch and he went to jail."
Runaway Train
U/TheFire_Eagle: "I'm in the NYC subway. A guy elbows me out of the way to get into the turnstile first yelling vaguely that he 'has a train to catch' (no s---).
Through the turnstile, turn the corner and there are a few cops set up near a folding table and he gets pulled to have his bag searched."
Crashing Down
U/ChileConCaveman: "I worked at a grocery store. I was stocking Instant Noodles on a big sale display. All I had was a cheap small step 2 step stool, you know the one with the bar that runs across the top step? Reaching down to the stool from the shelf I was standing on, was about 3 feet. I had a 60% chance my foot would land on the top bar and collapse the thing.
I asked a coworker to use his shoulder as a handle as I got down. My supervisor called me a 'princess' for getting assistance. Soon after he was stocking the 2-Liter Coke bottles on a sales display. He tried to get down. He took the 40% success rate jump onto the step. Hit the top bar. The step ladder collapsed. I just clocked out and left before they told me to clean up the spilled soda all over the place."
Shoe Snatcher
U/cruisefromottawa: "That time I had my SHOES stolen! I was 17. Went to a party where there were kids from two different high schools. When I went inside I took off my brand new Nike Air Mada shoes that I had just bought for $140. Hours later, when I went to leave, my shoes were gone. We had an idea of who took them (a guy from the other school) but didn’t have proof.
Long story short … a week later, Monica (the girl who threw the party) shows up on my doorstep holding something… turns out she went to a party and saw the guy who stole my shoes - wearing them! When he took them off…she snagged them! She told me the best part was watching him look for them (just like I had) and then leave in his socks!"
Lesson Learned
"In the UK, kids wear blazers and ties to school and a common bullying tactic that jerks used was to run up to kids, pull their ties so they get really tightly knotted. On the bus home, the bus was really full, and I was standing in front of one such bully.
He grabbed my tie JUST as the bus had to break sharply. He lost his footing and the only thing keeping him upright was the fact that he was holding my tie. He had grabbed the wrong bit, it wasn't knotted, I simply untied it, he fell…That was the last time I was knotted."
Car Troubles
U/GenerationSam: "At a job as a mechanic I got a part that was completely correct except the electrical plug was a different shape. I found out after I installed it. (For the record it did plug in, just didn't have long enough prongs to communicate.) I had to order the right part again and take this one off and install the right one, all while only getting paid to put the correct one on (lost about 1.3 hours).
My co-worker laughed and said 'Bet you won't make that mistake again. Pay attention next time.' His very next job he put all 4 tires on backwards (some tires are directional). Said the same thing to him. I knew I would use it against him, didn't know it would be that soon."
Karma Hits Fast
U/Slowjams: "Saw a guy in a gorgeous sports car (Ferrari I think) honking and yelling at a pedestrian in the crosswalk. Pedestrian had the right of way and was crossing during the signal. Immediately after they passed the guy guns it and darts around the corner and rear-ends a cop who was in the middle of writing a ticket.
There was a truck parked on the street that was just enough to obstruct Ferrari guys line of sight through the turn. It was glorious, I didn't even see it happen, I just heard the crunch right after he turned the corner."
Game Over
U/spitfire9107: "Not instant karma but I remember in middle school I knew a kid that would go door to door collecting donations for the Walk a thon and he'd keep the money for himself.
He used the money to buy video games with it. One day he loans his 'friend' his game collection. His friend moved away with it."
Last Word
U/MyNameIsNotRyn: "I used to be a zookeeper. This b---- was making fun of our llama for looking ugly. The llama was a rescue who had corrective jaw surgery. The b---- 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."
Watch Your Step
"One time in middle school, this guy who was relatively new at our school was making fun of a girl in our class who fell in the hallway in-between classes; coincidentally this was a girl I had a crush on. He was a little bit of a class clown, and was mocking her…
Apparently, he misjudged his footing, and while attempting to jokingly ape the way she had fallen, actually fell for real, and landed squarely on his back in front of everybody. Passing him by in the hallway, I saw him just lying there, surrounded by adults and staring up at the ceiling, face completely expressionless. Pretty sure he moved after that. I would have too."
Seeing Red
U/LiquidSoapEnthusiast: "Was driving home one night around 10pm. I'm stopped at a red light in front of a shopping mall, about midway down the block. The east and westbound road is separated by a pedestrian island. Someone pulls up next to me at the light, looks around, and drives through the red light.
Suddenly, from the opposite side of the street, red and blue lights, a 'whoop whoop' of a siren, and an NYPD SUV hops the island and pulls the guy over. The police weren't camped out or anything, just waiting at the red light on their side of the street. Right place at the right time."
Shared Pain
U/omglookawhale: "I banged by knee on the corner for a hotel bed and my husband was laughing his a-- off while he was brushing his teeth in the bathroom.
As soon as he walks out of the bathroom, his hit his knee the exact same way and I got to laugh my a-- off."
Jackpot Joy
"My best friend’s mom has always been like a second mom to me, at least since my bestie and I were in 4th grade. This year for Easter, she invited me over for dinner with her family, so I decided to get her a quick gift, which included some dog toys for her huskies, some flowers, a thank you card and a scratch off ticket. She has always been so kind to me, she even writes the same sweet motherly messages on my Facebook timeline as she does for her own daughters.
That’s probably why I cried with utter joy when the ticket I bought her won her $1000. It wasn’t necessarily instant karma since she has been good to me for more than 16 years, but she won some money in an instant."
Eye for an Eye
U/Pyr0technikz: "When I was in 8th grade, my best friend and I were on the soccer team together. We were on the bus on the way to a game and she had some sort of breath spray with her. She sprayed it directly in my eyes. I'm pretty sure it was an accident but it burned like h--- and I was pissed.
This happened right as we were arriving. We all hopped off of the bus and immediately started warming up/practicing. We were passing the ball back and forth and as soon as I passed it to her, a bird s--- on her head. It's one of my favorite memories."
Helping Hand
U/jdizzle161: "After a few days of getting killed at the blackjack tables at Foxwoods, my friend and I spent our last night [partying]. Went back to the room and decided to order some room service. He ordered, and I went to grab some water from the vending machine. In the hallway were two old ladies, one of whom was having a massive seizure. I had just taken a CPR/First aid course a year or two earlier, and just jumped in.
Had her friend hold her in place, and ran back to the room to have my friend call security to get EMS up there. They got there, and took her away. She was awake and alert as they rolled her off. Next morning, we decided to hit the tables before we left. Not only did I win back all my losses, but I left up about 4 grand."
Tailgating Turmoil
U/Brandle34: "Driving to my folks for Thanksgiving and this guy driving behind me was basically inside my a-- for miles, but would NOT pass me. I'm behind a police officer who's doing like 3 over the limit so I just chilled behind him…
Finally this d--- bag behind me just floors it past me. He must have been so pissed that he didn't even notice the cop in front of me. He was instantaneously pulled over. I waved as I passed them."
Pay Up
U/snorfflez: "I was waiting in the car line at the gas station and I was the next in line with an empty spot to my right that was out of order.
Guy behind me swung out of line to cut me and pulled up the the (broken) spot, realized it was out of order, saw everyone in line witness his karma comeuppance, and sped off to the more expensive gas station down the street."
Gold Star Behavior
"I went to a local playground with my sister and her kid and, as we walked in the gate, we passed two women chatting. One of them had a baby in a buggy and the baby dropped its toy. The mother wasn't looking so I just picked it up, gave it back to the kid, and we carried on walking to a bench nearby.
At the bench next to us was a woman with a little girl who was about four. They were discussing something quietly and then the mother said, 'OK. Go on!', as if giving in to the girl. The girl then proceeded to march over to me, say, 'This is for being helpful!', sticking a gold star on my arm, and then going back to her mother."
Shoe Saga
U/admiralfilgbo: "I went with my girlfriend to the john fleuvog store so she could buy the same pair of boots for the third time. Unfortunately they stopped making that particular type, and she was beside herself. I was being very supportive and comforting, but I also happened to see a pair of boots in the sale bin that happened to fit, so I bought them.
She was happy for me because I didn't own a pair of boots, but I felt that I was sort of rubbing salt in her wound…we left with her feeling crushed and me getting an unexpected sweet deal. A month later I went to a different store to buy the same pair of sneakers I had been buying over and over again, but the line had just been discontinued, and something caught her eye…"
Clank Catastrophe
U/McNasty99: "Was at a party and my buddy came up to me and clanked the bottom of his…bottle on the top of mine. Normally the vibrations cause your [drink] to foam up and come out the top but this time it caused the neck of my bottle to break.
As he was standing there laughing at me, the bottom of his bottle broke of and fell to the ground…Instant karma."
Street Justice
U/RedditBanIncoming: "Late to the party, but here’s mine: my brother and I were walking in a residential area, we were 17-14 at the time. We cross the street in a perfectly safe manner but this woman driver who had to slow down and stop for us (she had plenty of space and time) leaned on her horn at us.
She was immediately pulled over by a cop who was opportunely passing by. Never tell us the odds. We laughed our a---- off."
Store Shutdown
"Close enough to instant. Bought a Toys R Us gift card for my nephew which must have been scammed because it had $0 balance when they went to redeem it. Even though the retailer sent me activation confirmation Toys R Us refused to help fix the card & I ended up having to send cash to make up for it.
My last comment to the VERY unhelpful customer service was I couldn’t wait until Amazon puts them out of business. Three months later … Karma hit."
Slip and Slide
"I was the recipient of this instant karma. I worked at this Thai place. Our back door led to the driveway of a house with gross…owners whose 4 dogs pooped EVERYWHERE. We entered through the back door at opening, and it sucked in the winter because you'd have to make your way down this sheet of ice.
Anyway, my boss was an abusive…One evening we arrived at the same time. He went down the ice hill before me and slipped, whacked his head hard, and came to a stop in a fresh pile of dog c---. I did not even try to hide my laughter. Then I made my way down the ice hill. I also fell, pretty hard in fact. But I didn't whack my head, and I didn't land in dog c---. Totally worth it."
Big Talker
U/Sulfur_Life: "Sister in law accused my wife of being a gold digger…said she was the reason I ruined the family business. (For reference this was when we met, I also promised my brother I would help at the family restaurant through college and when I graduated and found a job I was done, all for free mind you…)
AND THEN!!! BOOM discovered she had an ongoing affair for the last 3 years and was using business money to fund their little escapes AND had an a------- my brother knew nothing about because she didn’t know who it belonged to! Meanwhile me and wife had twins, still happily married. So satisfactory."
Emergency Exit
U/Gneissisnice: "I was driving on the highway in the right lane and there was a truck in the middle lane near me. I had a feeling that it would come into my lane soon, so I made sure to slow down a bit and make sure it was fully ahead of me.
The car behind me got annoyed and passed me on the left and then came back into my lane ahead of me and next to the truck. As I predicted, the truck almost immediately started to move into my lane. The guy ahead of me panicked and veered off into the exit that we had just been passing, taking an unintended detour."
Twice the Fun
"Was at a party with two friends, let’s call them Mathew and Mark. Mathew was holding a [drink], and Mark asked him the time. Of course, Mathew spilt the [drink] all over himself.
I laughed at him like you wouldn’t believe. Of course, when Mark tried the same trick on me not two minutes later, I spilt half a pint down the front of my trousers."
Mistaken Identity
U/LoupsyLoupsy: "I met this guy at the bus stop. He asked for my major, the minute he learned I was majoring in visual arts he started berating me saying it was a useless major and was going to end up homeless… ect. I just ignored him and got on the bus. After a while it becomes clear that there is a talent scout on the bus as a man is talking loudly on the phone about recent contracts.
The guy I met at the bus stop started pulling out a cd player and insisted that the talent scout listen to his elton john impression. the talent scout guy was impressed and a bit incredulous. the guy had mixed up his CDs and had him listen to an actual Elton John album. I never saw someone slouch back in their seat with such shame and embarassement. It made my day."
Hero to Zero
U/Lord_Malgus: "Playing soccer, I see a teammate was going to cut through the defense line and I give him the most inspired pass ever, kid recieves it like a pro, feints the goalie and then… kicks the ball full strength into the pole.
Snob-a-- captain of the other team is running towards his defense, he's about to yell some mockery when he trips on his own feet and lands face first, like not even on his hands, just nose vs ground."
Road Reckoning
U/DefinitelyNotAGinger: "I was driving home from school one day and it was particularly busy. This one a------ in a sports car was weaving between cars behind me as we were approaching a part of the road that merged from two lanes to one. He zooms past us, and there is no room to merge because busy traffic so he cuts off this newer model Charger in front of me.
Lo and behold it was an unmarked police cruiser, and he made the officer slam on the brakes, who then promptly turned on his lights and pulled him over. I literally fist pumped as I drove by."
Tip Twist
U/grannybubbles: "I'm a server in a busy diner, and we had a new hostess who had been working her b--- off to learn her job and she did really well over the holidays. I had had a really good shift and wanted her to have a little boost for the day, so on my way out, I stopped at her station and gave her $20 and thanked her for doing a good job.
I turned around to leave and was stopped by a customer who said 'I'm so glad we caught you, we forgot to tip you last time we were here!' and handed me $20."