Jedi started an interesting 'confessional' thread... what about the flip side...? it's said that "Revenge is a dish best served cold" ... Any one here care to tell us about a time you got revenge on someone who had, in some way, wronged you or one of yours? Mike
Back in my earlier years when my partying was rampant and I was married, my now ex-wife left me. We got a divorce, I cleaned up, got a new career, own and drive a Ferrari. Twenty years later my Dad is getting phone calls from collection agencies looking for my fat ex-wife. I told my Dad to redirect the collection agency to her her brother's phone number who happens to be a Police Chief in a nearby town. The revenge? Living my life well and honestly, proving to those that thought I was a loser that I am no longer a loser. ( and I'm STILL good looking............................and humble too.)
It takes a lot to get me to the point of revenge. Its only happened a couple times in my life. Back in the late 90s I became friends with a guy named Michael, working a minimum wage gig at the local art store. I invited him to come to the studio and learn on his days off. Basically spent a couple years mentoring him in sculpture and toy design. After a couple years he was showing promise and I offered him a full time job at double what he was making at the art store. He took my offer and became an asset to my company. Within another couple years he became my studio supervisor and was making over $1k week. He bought a house , a new car, was always thanking me for the opportunity. Things were good. Around 2001 I was going through a really rough breakup and I needed to get away. I told him he would be in charge of everything while I was gone but I would be available by phone or email if I was needed. I figured id be gone for 2 - 3 months. I also gave him a large raise for taking on the additional responsibility and I hired him his own assistant. When I came back a few months later one of my long term clients told me there seemed to be some funny stuff going on while I was gone. That Michael was telling him I was emotionally unstable and that he did all the real work. I called the rest of my clients and a few also said Michael was saying the same thing to them. I called Michael into the office and he quickly came clean and said that he was starting his own toy development company and a couple other guys were going with him. Now, I am all for the entrepreneurial spirit and for people going off and doing their own thing but... Michael was not only trying to start his own company, he was trying to take my clients with him and he had paid for a trip to NYC to personally visit some of my clients with my money ! I fired him on the spot...this is where the revenge thing comes in. My clients had all agreed to not use Michaels new company and to spread the word about his lack of ethics to their friends. Michael had already signed a lease on a studio space and was putting together equipment. Financially he was in deep. Because of my connections he never got a single job before he ran out of money to pay for the studio. Then he tried to get sculpting jobs at other toy development companies and I put the stop to that as well. He was basically blacklisted from the toy business and lost everything he had. I heard he eventually took his backpack and became a nomad traveling and working local labor jobs to pay for it. Have to push me pretty far to see that side...but it exists.
This all sounds like typical cutthroat business practices I used to see in the construction trade. Lots of under-cutting, lying, stealing and cheating people out of money owed.(hence the switch to a predictable and stable occupation). You are fortunate that you stepped in when you did. Mental stability? That's a relative term, and you know how we feel about relatives.................................
Rising above the act revenge is what I have been taught but seeking justice against a person like that is something all together different. Your successes in life are your reward as long as you have come to terms with that bad experience.
I'm not proud of any revenge I've sought in the past on anyone. I do my best not to be vengeful anymore.
Vengeance usually does does more harm to the one delivering it than the one receiving. There's a fine but real difference between vengeance and justice.
I'd never pass judgement on someone who's been through what you have. Its beyond any frame of reference I could possibly have. I hope you find your justice and your peace.
I've learned that the best revenge is living well. However, when I was much younger I did get even with a few people. A high school counselor caused me quite a bit of grief, probably because I called him stupid in front of quite a few people. At any rate, my revenge on him was to take his car, and fill his tires with water, and return it. It took him months to figure out what was wrong with the car. Art
The yr. was 1971. neighbor set my warehouse on fire. Lost 145 new 5 ton military tires. He stood next to me and with the fire and police there said 'i burned that building and i have this pistol here so what are you going to do about it'. After the shock and the do nothing law enforcement i could do nothing. i put the thing behind me. Five yrs. later his two prostitutes murdered him. G-d took care of the man. Second event: X manager that stole so much told my potential customers that i closed. Then he would swear on deposition that i did this and that with a customer and i got sued. A customer called and told me he was selling pills, Ky. is the nation leader in illegal pill sales. i had enough of this guy (he also killed his wife but they cannot find the body) and called in a favor from 50 yrs. ago. A drug buy was do. The DEA set up a robbery, returned the money bag 30 min. later. They could not obtain a warrant in the county without him being notified. Handed money bag back and ask if he had a license to sell guns at his pawn shop. Answer, 'NO' they had probable cause and entered. Found drugs, half the guns were stolen, bag was full of cash, lot of it and the legal concealed weapon became illegal. BINGO! ATF, DEA, FBI and IRS
I was picked on a lot as a younger kid, always wanted to fit in with the 'cool kids' and before I was about 15 or so, I never did. I was awkward, always tall (6+ feet), big feet (size 15) and extremely skinny. I was also *almost* a black belt in karate, and studied MA for years until I was 12 or so. All of the following things I remember vividly, although some memories are just flashes of the interaction. First time I got revenge: I went to private school for years, all the way up until 5th grade, when I transferred to a local public school. There was a kid named 'Bill' who had a few friends that were part of the cool kids. After unsuccessfully trying to be a part of their group, of course I became the whipping boy for these guys to pick on and only made it worse. Verbally and physically. I was in a bathroom once and these guys started pushing me and surrounding me. I was scared and ran out and ran away, but I forgot my school folder. They were taunting me by throwing it back and forth over a fence where I couldn't get it. Activities like that. Fast forward 3 years to 8th grade. I was still in classes with these guys and had been tripped, name called, etc for a long time. My prized bicycle was vandalized, parts stolen. Of course now I understand the reasoning behind their behavior, as I appeared weak to them. I didn't understand then. One day, during lunch, I had some interaction with Bill and he called me a name. Last straw. While I was riding my bike home from school with two friends, I came across Bill walking home with a couple of his friends. As I rode by, he said something to me that I couldn't understand. I turned around, dropped my bike and saw red. I ran up while he was walking and punched him as hard as I could in the back of the head, right above the spine. He fell to the ground and then got up and tried to jump on my back, where I flipped him over. We stood up and struggled; I grabbed his head and slammed his face into a mailbox. Then I just starting hitting him and screaming. A woman across the street poked her head over the fence and yelled to STOP! or she would call the police. I stopped and rode home. Bill never once looked in my direction again, or his friends. It's funny how incredibly well an ass-kicking works with people who just can't talk it out. Instant respect. Second one, a kid who I knew growing up thought I got him in trouble with his parents, so our friendship ended. My parents weren't into TV and we didn't have one at the time. One morning before school started, as I was about to walk into band practice and we were all waiting outside the building), in front of about 75 people this kid Trevor called me "a poor piece of ****". I didn't say a word, I just hit him right in the face and knocked him completely down on the grass, walked by him into the band-room and took my seat. Incredibly satisfying moment for me, never bothered me again. Last one, guy named Jordan, freshman year private high school. He terrorized many people. Called me a "***" every_single_day for 2 months. "Can I have $.50 for a Coke, ***?" Not a big deal in retrospect, but incredibly frustrating at the time. We had verbal exchanges, but last straw was when he was assaulting a close friend of mine in the middle of the lunch period. My friend was the 'turn your other cheek so you don't get in trouble' type, and was being punched in the stomach, just standing there taking it. I was raised in the mindset of "always hit back". I pushed Jordan off and, as it was the end of lunch, ended up agreeing to a fight, "across the street in a park". The park was about 1/4 mile east of the school, down a long street. Word of the fight gets around very quickly. After school, a few of my friends walked over with me, where people had congregated to watch the spectacle. Soon after, Jordan arrives in the bed of a truck along with 10 or so other popular Seniors, who he knew through the football program. Intimidating at the time. We started circling like boxers, and I distinctly remember he had his hands down. Then I saw red again. There is something primal about fighting, something I think all men should feel once in their lives. I felt like a wild animal, and I knew he didn't know what he had got himself into. I hit him first with a right, and I can still feel the way his cheek crushed between my fist and his braces. I think he realized he was outgunned. When I closed in, he grabbed me and tried to headlock while punching me in the stomach. I rolled him over and hit him again, hard. I don't remember much after that, other than the final axe kick to his right side of his head that knocked him down for good. I remember screaming at him that I was going to kill him as the Seniors who he drove over with ran up and told me if I touched him again they were going to get involved. At this point, I heard sirens in the distance. Jordan was laying face down in the park and I just ran back to the school (as firetrucks rolled the opposite way towards the park) and waited until my Mother picked me up. I was suspended of course, but that fight marked the beginning of a very formative period in my life. I never saw Jordan again; our encounter left him with a concussion and a broken jaw. He left in an ambulance. Once he recovered, he physically assaulted his Mom and ended up at a boarding school in Utah. God, re-reading this makes me think I have a real problem with Cool Kids. If you met me today, you would probably never guess any of these things happened to me, which is good. At least I didn't peak in the 5th grade like a lot of these losers did.
I wasn't really picked on, I'm a small guy, I look super young also. I did have this one small fight back in middle school, where I threw a few punches back to a guy twice my size and kneed him down on the soccer field. I honestly don't know what it was all about, but we were good friends before and after. But he swung at me first, but never hit me, my instincts were to fight back so I did. Surprisingly, neither of us got in trouble, nor did the gym coach do anything about it. It wasn't revenge either, IMO.
I can honestly say I've never sought revenge against someone I thought did me wrong. That's not to say that I haven't gotten some small pleasure out of seeing the guy who was a GIANT superstar in High School (and who constantly busted my balls) fall flat on his face after that. Or that I didn't enjoy going to my 5 year HS reunion driving my Porsche. That was a LOOOONG time ago, and I've worked through those issues. The best revenge is to be happy with who you are and to surround yourself with good family and friends. A happy life is the ultimate revenge on the small and petty folks who tried in some way at some time to make you miserable. D
Best advice yet. I was picked on a little bit in high school, not nearly as bad as some others, but the following joke then really set me on the path that I later took: Q: What do you call a nerd when he grows up? A: Boss
I guess I'll have to join in with PAP and a few others who have posted....people that do me wrong are just "off the Bus"......it's not worth the energy to pursue the retribution, it'll find them on it's own.......
In college I pretty much only made money by playing in bands. I had a really annoying suite-mate one year that liked to play techno music late into the night, and rarely stopped even when I'd ask him to. After about a week of that nonsense, I decided to give him some of my music. Some good music. My weapon of choice was my incredibly loud Fender tube amp. I normally put the volume knob on 3 or 4 when I play outdoor shows, and it screams. To get the guy back I chose to crank it to 6 or 7 (still the loudest I've ever had the thing). Late one night I turned the amp on, got completely naked, and snuck into the guy's room. I had another friend sneak in and on the count of three he started flipping the room light on and off as I tore into "Voodoo Child". Man, college was fun. On a more serious note, a guy got rough with my sister once. I drove home 3 hours from college, straight to his doorstep, and got rough with him.
First you take the tire off. Then you get a hose for filling the tires with air, cut it, and then you fit a water hose to it by necking the water hose down. You can buy the fittings at any hardware store. Take the valve out of the wheel or tube, and fill the tire up with water. It won't totally fill, and that's good. Then you fill the tire up with 30#s of air, and put it back on the car (having replaced the air valve on the tube or tire). Takes about 20 minutes per tire. The car won't stop very well, won't steer well, and handles like ****. No damage done, and no one ever thinks that anyone would do that, so it takes foreever to figure out. Once they try to take the wheel off the car, they figure it out immediately though. LOL Art
