When we think of an "I told you so" moment, we might think of a funny moment we shared with a sibling or partner, or even something that might have happened that was fairly inconsequential on a family-friendly sit-com.
But the truth of the matter is, when we insist that we know better, sometimes we find out in very serious ways... that we were wrong the entire time.
Ready to laugh, Redditor Ill-Lab-7307 asked:
"What's the best 'I told you so' moment?"
Mechanics Gone Wrong
"Working at a tire shop, a customer brought in a Land Rover Range Rover with air suspension for a set of tires."
"I watched the tire changers start to set their little scissor lift under the frame to pick it up and I went over and stopped them. I told them that they should take it down to the second drive-on rack and use the swing jacks under the axles or else they were going to blow out the suspension."
"The assistant manager overheard this and came out into the shop saying that, 'I just called Land Rover and they said that to turn off the air ride all you have to do is open the rear hatch and turn the hazard lights on. Just pick it up where it is and get on with it, the customer's waiting.'"
"At that point, I said, 'Well, you heard the man, I'm going to go back down by my toolbox. Holler if you need me.'"
"About a minute and a half later, what sounds like a shotgun blast is heard throughout the shop. They lifted the truck by the frame and blew out all four suspension air bags, just like I said would happen."
"They eventually wound up putting it on the drive-on lift and using the swing jacks, just like I told them to. Then the customer got to drive all the way from Manassas VA to Alexandria VA on the bump stops where the shop I was working for paid $6000 for a set of used suspension airbags to be installed."
"God forbid the guy who's actually worked on Land Rovers before might know what he's talking about, even if I had only been at that particular shop for three days. At least they started listening to me when I told them stuff."
- SpitefulMechanic351
Got the Keys?
"My roommate at the time always refused to take his keys whenever he left the house (despite me telling him not to do that), relying on the fact that I always had mine (our shifts ended around the same time so we would usually come home together)."
"One day while we were both out, I had to go back to my parent's house which was a couple hours away. As I was pulling up to their drive, I got a call from him, stranded in the rain, outside our place without his keys."
"I told him that I wouldn't be returning until tomorrow and that there was nothing I could do."
"He ended up staying over at one of our friend's houses, but since then he's never left the house without his keys."
- drax3021
Don't Forget the Fees
"My ex-boss, who I was not fond of, had a vehicle he wanted to sell. He met someone who wanted to make payments on it (used a private party) but to take possession when they made the first payment."
"I told him not to do it. I said it was almost certain they would crash the car, and then just stop paying, and he’d be left with a damaged car and no money."
"He told me I was dumb and went ahead with the deal. Okay. Whatever you say."
"For a couple of months, things were good, and he was pretty smug."
"Then he came in one day and told me to research what happens if the above scenario happens, and the car was in a tow yard collecting fees. He wanted to know if he was responsible for the fees."
"I didn’t even look up. Yup. If you want the car back, you are."
- Hippopotasaurus-Rex
Just Do the Count
"I was in freight. I delivered a pallet that was supposed to have 750 pieces. It looked a little short so I asked the customer to count it."
"He refused three times after I explained to him if it was short, they’re going to deny your claim."
"He said don’t worry. I said okay and noted it on the paperwork that he refused to count. He signed it."
"Two weeks later, he called the customer service representative to report a shortage and make a claim. The customer service rep called me and asked if I remembered it."
"I said, 'Yep, read the notes.'"
"She said, 0Oh, he refused to count it. Claim denied, thanks bye.' Lol (laughing out loud)."
- No-Ice2179
Medical Gaslighting
"When I was 14, I fell down a flight of stairs and messed up my knee badly enough that I had to have surgery on it."
"It was a day surgery, and when I came out of anesthesia I found myself groggy and sick to my stomach."
"The attending nurse needed to get me up and ready to leave, but I really didn’t feel well. So she’s insisting that I sit up, and I’m protesting saying that if I move I will vomit. She made me sit up, telling me, 'You won’t vomit.'"
"I promptly puked all over her."
- MacroPixi
A Literal Earthquake
"I was working in a factory that had very large pieces of machinery with large gearboxes, about the size of one of those Smart Cars. I noticed during my shift that while idling one of the machines had a small spike in the current draw every revolution of the motor (idle was about 15rpm so you could see it on the monitors)."
"I put a screwdriver up against the gearbox casing and listened to it (it's a half-assed stethoscope), and could hear something sticking and then popping free as it turned. I told the supervisor that a bearing was right on the point of failure and we needed to shut it down immediately for maintenance. He ignored my warning and proceeded to queue up a job for the night shift running at 80% max load for more than nine hours. I shrugged and went home."
"At about 2:00 AM, the gearbox failed catastrophically, causing what the crew reported as 'a small earthquake' as the entire building shook."
"I turned up for my next shift and once they explained what happened. I just looked at the supervisor and said, 'Told ya so.'"
"The machine was down for nearly a year and a new gearbox had to be custom-fabricated and imported from Italy because they didn't want a couple of days downtime for preventative maintenance."
- pyro-genesis
Just Deal With It
"I told my ex I was passing a kidney stone and needed to go to the ER or urgent care. She told me to suck it up, and that it was just a bit of man flu."
"Despite the pain, my anger had me drive her and myself to the Urgent Care, get a CT scan, and have the doctor tell me that it was a five-millimeter kidney stone halfway to my bladder."
"The look on her face when he confirmed that I was right was worth the pain and agony."
- thecountnotthesaint
Pride is EXPENSIVE
"In the late 80s, I worked for my MiL as a regional manager of her business. I worked very long hours for $500 per week. At some point, I told her that I deserved a raise."
"She asked me how much I thought that I deserved and I replied that she couldn't replace me for less than $1000 per week."
"She responded that she was sure that she could, so I said, 'Fine; show me.'"
"She had trouble finding someone and finally had to pay the $1000. But after two weeks, he was totally incapable of doing what I did, so she had to split it into two regions and hire a second guy at $1000 per week, putting her at $2000 per week."
"After six months, she discovered that they teamed up to embezzle about $15,000 from the company, on top of what she had paid them."
"Of course, she never acknowledged to anyone, especially not me, that I was right and she f**ked up badly..."
- scotty813
Hope the Hunt Was Worth It
"A family friend's truck was making a grinding noise from the brakes. I told him to drive something else to go hunting."
"I got a call the next day because he drove it for two hours and then his brakes stopped working. He ended up needing calipers on top of the pads and rotors he would've originally needed, driving the price up a crazy amount."
- zacurtis3
Cheaters Gonna Cheat
"I told my ex-wife's new husband that she was a cheater and would do it to him. He said she wouldn't."
"Fast-forward five years, and they're divorced. He told me she cheated several times for long periods. He told me he wished he'd listened."
"I've come to the conclusion that there are cheaters and there are those who will not cheat under any circumstances. There's really no in-between. Cheaters and non-cheaters."
"My ex-wife was a cheater and continues to cheat on the latest husband."
"My wife now is incredible and is not interested in any of that. We've been together for 32 years with no issues on either side. Trust matters."
- shavedape61
It All Adds Up
"As a teacher, I told the head principal at my school that the way they were abusing the alternate assessment program to boost standardized test scores was not just a huge burden on teachers but also illegal and likely to attract the scrutiny of the state department of education."
"He handed me a s**tty assignment for the next year, I quit, and he ended up having to take that assignment (teaching 16 kids with emotional disorders across three grade levels in one classroom) for the first month and a half of the school year because they couldn’t find anybody to take my place."
"I heard later that year that they came down hard on him for the scheme he’d concocted and ended up shutting down the alternative assessment program altogether."
"Told you so, Head Principal."
- twelvesteprevenge
...Ouch
"I was idly bouncing an incredibly dull knife against my leg. When I say dull, I mean that it struggled to cut a banana."
"A friend happened to notice what I was doing and said, 'That's super dangerous.'"
"I shrugged and said, 'It's too dull to even make it through my apron' and punctuated my point with another, harder bounce, stabbing myself in the leg."
"It turns out a paring knife without an edge can still have a point, much as my friend did."
- EclecticDreck
The Golden Child Has Been Found
"When I was 13 years old, I found out my brother was selling drugs out of my parents' house."
"He used to tell them he was giving away McDonald’s coupons that he got from working the drive-through."
"We lived in a very nice neighborhood and I knew the influx of cars would attract police attention. After asking him to stop several times, I finally caved and told my parents. I was literally in tears because I felt guilty snitching on him but I felt like I had no other choice because he was going to ruin his life."
"When I told my parents, they accused me of being jealous of him for having better grades in school and called me a liar."
"He was able to continue for two more years before finally getting caught. Our home was raided and he was on the five o’clock news that evening."
"My mother watched and sobbed."
"I couldn’t help but say, 'I told you so.'"
"What could’ve been an easy conversation ended in federal charges and several hundred thousand dollars in lawyer fees."
- HillaryBankrupt
...Awwwkward!
"One time my mom and I were at Walmart and we spotted this woman who looked a lot like my aunt returning a TV."
"She told me to go get her attention and I said no, that’s not my aunt."
"She said I know my sister and proceeded to yell, 'HEY, FAT WOMAN,' and this woman turned around and GLARED."
- HezaLeNormandy
"That's when you turn to the side, yell it a few more times, and then act embarrassed and say your dog is named Fat Woman."
- starlightriddlex
This One Hurts
"When my aunt accused me of stealing her bag, I was devastated."
"Despite my tearful protests, she searched through my personal belongings, including my suitcase."
"However, when they moved house, her bag was found there all along."
- MiyaOFtheworld
"What a jerk aunt! If we could untie ropes with them."
"I despise feeling like I don't belong in my family. Being adopted, I often feel distant from my aunts, who frequently hurl hurtful words my way. They hindered my college education, but now that I've graduated and found a better job, they have the audacity to ask to borrow money from me."
- GirlNextOffSunny
"Congrats on having something to bring up every family gathering for forever."
"'Oh, don't touch (aunt's) phone, she'll think you're stealing it.'"
"'Can you pass me the salt (aunt)? Don't worry, I'm not stealing it.'"
"'Oh, that's a nice new purse, (aunt). Don't worry, I'm not scoping it out. I'll just never forget what the purse looks like that you accused me of stealing.'"
- SuddenlyUpsideDown
While we generally think of "told you so" moments as being something funny between friends or partners, "I told you so" moments can actually be pretty serious.
As these stories demonstrated, it could be something as mild as being locked out, all the way up to ruining a family relationship, ruining a job, or being arrested.
Sometimes it's worth listening to the advice of those around us, even if our pride tries to tell us that we know better.
