Generally speaking, fantasizing about taking an eye for an eye—getting revenge on someone who was being a jerk—is human nature. But often acting vengefully remains just that, a scenario in our mind. Our moral compass combined with the fear of further escalation keeps most of us in check. Most, but not all.
Revenge is a powerful emotional trigger that can actually mobilize some people into action. So we at Bored Panda decided to take a look at the ways it manifests in our everyday lives. Digging around the internet, we found many petty acts that people resort to in an attempt to restore justice. Like pouring water in front of the dishwasher to make your husband try to fix it even though the thing is perfectly fine. Continue scrolling to check out what we’ve gathered and fire up our older publications on the topic here and here. Enjoy!
#1 Awesome Mom
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#2 Some Men Just Want To Watch The World Burn
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For those who aren’t yet familiar with the term, the Oxford Dictionary defines pettiness as “undue concern with trivial matters, especially of a small-minded or spiteful nature.”
Additionally, pettiness can be more subtle than classic revenge. A 2009 social experiment conducted at Harvard and the University of Virginia gathered groups of people to play a financial game.
In each group, one experimenter was placed specifically to cheat so that the other people playing would notice. The scientists discovered that when given the opportunity for a no-fault chance at revenge, everyone playing who was cheated took a chance at it.
Meaning everybody was angry over what happened to them, and everyone given the opportunity for revenge took it.
#3 Petty Betty
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#4 Revenge Is A Dish Best Not Served
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#5 The Power Of Mums
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Danny Greeves, a UK-based physiotherapist and behavioral change coach specializing in resolving resentment, said that revenge and pettiness are common aspects in our interpersonal relationships because they both trigger the law of obligation.
This is also known as reciprocity, which is the practice of exchanging things for mutual benefit. “Reciprocity is one of the universal principles which creates automatic, unconscious responses. It is the principle of mutual exchange,” he explained, adding that in our evolutionary past, reciprocity was a vital principle because we relied on other people to assist us through fair exchange in order to do tasks and get basic human needs met.
#6 This Is How You End Up In Hell
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#7 I Would Have Done The Same
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#8 Oh, This Is Gold
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#9 Getting My Roommate To Clean
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Speaking plainly, when someone does something for us, we feel an obligation to return the favor.
“The pull of returning the action performed towards us is so strong because it has been crucial to our evolutionary progress,” Greeves said.
This part of our nature is actually the reason why we feel rude when we don’t say thank you, mean when we don’t offer something we could share, or guilty when we don’t do something we’re supposed to.
#10 Thwaites Brewery In England Told Workers It Was Cutting 60 Staff. My Dad’s Mates Worked As Electricians There And Shorted The Lights In Retaliation
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#11 This Is So Me
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#12 Did He Even Remember?
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#13 “Screw Your Time I’ll Exercise In The Street” Is An Entire Mood
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However, a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that petty behaviors made people seem less likable, even when the actions clearly benefitted others.
“Being precise isn’t always a good thing for the quality of relationships,” said study co-author Tami Kim, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “Sometimes, leaving a little room for error might be a good idea.”
#14 Easy Solution
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#15 Genius
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#16 High Five Grandma, That’s Awesome
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#17 I Really Hope It Was Her Name In Comic Sans
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This applies to all sorts of relationships and has been proven numerous times under different circumstances. It even applies to people in romantic relationships — when they were asked questions about their partner’s pettiness and their relationship satisfaction, researchers found a correlation between reported partner pettiness and unhappiness in a relationship.
#18 What A Power Move
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#19 Let’s Review
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#20 I Like Her Style
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#21 A Japanese Woman Discovered Her Boyfriend Was Cheating, So She Gathered All His Apple Devices And Dumped Them Into A Tub Full Of Water
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So I guess a part of us wants to know there’s still forgiveness in the world, after all.
“The downfall of pettiness can happen across many types of relationships, even amongst people who have been together for a long time,” Kim said. “Pay attention to the ways even the simplest behavior can be interpreted.”
#22 Someone At Work Kept Stealing My Sister’s Cherry Cokes Out Of The Fridge. So She Rubbed The Top Of The Can With A Habanero Pepper. Hope This Will Prevent Them From Stealing
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#23 Madlad Strikes At His Mom
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#24 Karen’s “Revenge”
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#25 Inspiring Moment
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#26 My Neighbor Keeps Vacuuming His Floor When I’m Sleeping At Night. I Started Vacuuming The Ceiling As He Sleeps At 3AM
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#27 And The Winner Is
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#28 Justice Is Served
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#29 Well, I’d Do The Same
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#30 What Could Go Wrong Blocking A Farmer’s Gate To Save A Parking Fee?
#31 How To Get Revenge 101
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#32 Outstanding Move
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#33 My Friend’s Girlfriend Moved Out And Took Everything, Including The Drawer Handles
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#34 Turns Out We Have Ghosts
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#35 You Know How Mad You Got To Be To Carry A Refrigerator
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#36 A Days-Worth Of Dirty Diapers For Whoever Keeps Stealing Packages Off Our Porch
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#37 Petty Times Call For Petty Measures
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#38 Talk About Revenge
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#39 I’d Say This Is Chaotic Good
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#40 My Two Older Children Were Trying To Lay Out All Of Their Pokémon Cards, But The Youngest Kept Intervening, So They Duct-Taped Him To A Chair
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#41 Ethan Isn’t Playing Around This Semester
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#42 My Mate Told The Driver Of The Black Corsa Not To Park In The Company’s Parking Space. He Gave My Mate Attitude And Ignorance. So My Mate Put Scaffold Up Around His Car
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#43 Dad Waits 28 Years To Return Birthday Card To Son
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#44 After Years Of This Guy Using My Email As A Spam Account, I Got My Revenge. He Signed My Email. Up For Siriusxm Which Also Gives Me The Ability To Beep His Horn
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#45 I Applaud This Level Of Petty
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#46 I Bet There’s A Dude Sitting With Just Salt And Pepper In His Cubbard Right Now Wishing He Had That Old Bay I Snatched Back
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#47 Evil. Brilliant… But Evil
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#48 To Everyone At Work That Has Been Eating My Jellybeans. Now The Fun Begins
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#49 Employees In A Supermarket React To A Customer That Left The Car In The Middle Of The Parking Lot, Blocking The Way
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#50 What A Legend
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Author: Akvile Petraityte 🇺🇦