“Going postal” is a relatively new phrase in the English language. It became widespread when a string of United States Postal Service workers decided to let their frustrations out on anyone around them. The most famous was in 1986 when Patrick Sherrill killed 14 and wounded six before killing himself. When several more postmen committed mass murder in the years to follow, it didn’t take long for going postal was a common expression for anyone who fell into a violent rage.
Today, the phrase doesn’t necessarily mean that the person is about to go on a murderous rampage but instead that they are uncontrollably angry over something seemingly trivial. Here is a list of 10 instances when people let their anger get the better of them.
(Warning: Some of these videos contain language; watcher beware.)
Related: 10 Crazy Times People Used Food As A Weapon
10 Satan Is Not my God
Flying is one of the worst best things that has ever happened in the history of transportation. You can travel thousands of miles in hours. That in and of itself is amazing. When you add figurative religious geography into the mix (heaven being up to many), most people will never physically be closer to God than when they are soaring at 30K feet. But on the flip side, being herded like cattle through security and then stuffed into a pressurized pringle can with wings means stress runs high. And for those predisposed to outbursts of righteous indignation, flying can be a bit much to handle.
That’s what I assume is happening in this video since no context was actually given about why this middle-aged woman is screaming about God, Satan, and ancient birds stolen from Mexico. The second-hand embarrassment is real with this one, but the massive burst of applause as she is escorted from the terminal really sets the tone for how people feel about people who can’t keep a level head.
9 Answer Your Door!
Meeting your new neighbors can be stressful enough, but it can take things to a whole new level of stress if they come over in a low-grade rage. But that’s exactly what happened with this neighbor.
From the audio, we can hear the homeowner did pretty good at remaining calm, as her neighbor repeatedly insists that (1) she has a cat and (2) that the cat keeps getting into her house. I should be clear that her reasons for not wanting the cat in her house are valid. It’s her home, and her kid is allergic, but there are better ways to handle it than just screaming through a Ring camera.
Did you happen to catch the cat in question leisurely strolling behind her?
8 Storemaggedan
Getting fired sucks. Apparently, getting fired from Wal-Mart sucks even more. The video shows an obviously upset ex-employee walking down the aisles, knocking things from the shelves onto the floor, shouting something we can only assume contains Carlin’s seven dirty words. But “things” is a rather small word compared to what is actually on the floor. Full floor displays and rows of cans, toilet paper, and soda are scattered, each new sweep inciting understandably shocked reactions from the recorder.
A job won’t remember you for the good you’ve done, even if you were a terrible worker (you can be a decent person and be crappy at your job). But they definitely will remember how you left. In this case, the entire Internet remembers how this guy left.
7 Someone Come Get Their Kid
Ah, children. So sweet, so precious, so entirely prone to temper tantrums, meltdowns, and acts of unwarranted behavior stemming from a lack of proper discipline at home and poorly modeled behavior from the parents. Like this kid who probably got the wrong flavor milkshake from McDonald’s and decided to enact his right to completely flip out.
Except, instead of doing the normal-kid thing where they cry at the table and stomp their feet at their parents, he goes behind the counter. He chucks his milkshake at the employee and stands on the counter barefoot. Dude…you don’t just decide to be a bad boy like this overnight.
Fortunately, after the father saw that he was standing barefoot on the counter (yes, that’s after), he came over and snatched him faster than a hawk snatching an unsuspecting field mouse from the grass. Who knows what happened to that kid afterward, but the father probably threw a milkshake at him because he doesn’t know how to control his emotions either.
6 You Don’t Know Paul Sheldon
The video calls her a crazy Karen, but she’s really her own type of crazy—she’s a Paul Sheldon fan. The only thing is that Paul Sheldon is to Stephen King as David Copperfield is to Charles Dickens. In other words, Paul Sheldon is a character developed by Stephen King, and he happens to be an author.
Knowing this makes the video even more cringy. It’s almost a joke.
The clerk behind the counter does a wonderful job of looking up Paul Sheldon, staying calm when the woman first starts to be persnickety and offering Barnes & Noble’s usual solution of ordering the book. So props to him. But the woman continues on as if her deep need for the book (she waited a long time and needs this one to complete her collection) will automatically change the fact that the store simply does not carry any titles by Paul Sheldon. She even turns around to address her “audience,” a group of dumbfounded customers, to express her disbelief that no one has ever heard of Paul Sheldon.
If she had asked for Stephen King’s novel Misery, featuring Paul Sheldon as a character, she might have gotten somewhere. And one of the clerks behind the counter probably knew her mistake. But at some point, people like this don’t deserve to be corrected, if even for the benefit of their reading list.
5 I’m Not Loving It!
It’s just another evening at McDonald’s! We don’t know why this woman freaked out the way she did, but you don’t need to know to understand that this pink-haired beauty overreacted. We first see her lean into the drive-thru window (the chick didn’t have the guts to come inside), take something from the counter, and chuck it at the employees. Then, in a grand turn of events, she leans in, takes their garbage can, throws that, and then rips the iced tea dispenser from the counter and chucks it at them.
People actually think acting this way is a good idea. Do they realize they can be charged with assault? Anyway, employees called the police, and they got her license plate number. Rumors have it that she’s doing time with the milkshake kid.
4 You’re Making Me Upset.
What would you do if you saw someone high-class tailgating in a parking area on an empty road? I’d ask them what they were cooking and tell them to enjoy their day. Well, unfortunately, I’m not everybody. In this video, two guys are cooking up a lobster dinner and are about to eat when an older woman comes up to them and fiercely commands them to “Pack it up!” They do, as, unlike the woman, they want to avoid conflict.
One of the guys starts calmly asking her why she takes issue with them being there, and she ineffectively goes on the offensive. She eventually walks away, but not before reaching into their truck and throwing their meal on the ground.
Cheers to Karen, and cheers to these guys for not losing their sh*t.
3 Do You Want to Have a Conversation About Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
In Connecticut, there are billboards along the highway that straight up ask, “Where are you going, heaven or hell?” If those billboards were a guy, this would be him. It’s not that we don’t respect other people’s beliefs and the art of proselytizing, but there’s a time and place for everything. Perhaps it would be better to silently demonstrate the goodwill of God and Jesus Christ through good works as opposed to preaching on a subway full of commuters. Actions speak louder than words.
As you would expect, no one on the train wanted to hear what the guy had to say and even told the preacher they didn’t want to hear it. But he just continues, explaining how he’s angry that everyone is sensitized to the evil around them, etc. A passenger eventually engages with the preacher and makes a good point: the man is selfishly forcing his opinion on everyone around him.
Where are we going, heaven or hell? Dude, I just want to go home and take a nap.
2 You Will Not Say That About My Son
Wedding vows are a chance to address each other honestly, profess dedication, and poke fun at each other (within reason). They are deeply personal and a special moment shared between the betrothed. In this case, the mother of the bride didn’t quite like what the bride had to say about her son.
The bride called him “flawed”—not a big deal to everyone else. They understood the sentiment. The mother-in-law, however, shouted, “You will not say that about my son!” The bride tries to explain that that’s part of why she loves him, but the MIL is not having it.
The subsequent freakout made the wedding all about her, which we suspect is what she wanted from the beginning. She wanted the room to recognize her and the loss of her son to another woman.
1 This Is My Sidewalk
One minute, you’re walking your dog, minding your own business. The next, you’re being accosted by a proverbial Karen. That’s what happened to this couple one sunny morning. The older woman, dressed in a fuchsia bathrobe, comes out and accuses the couple’s dog of peeing all over the plants in her front yard and even tells them that they aren’t picking up after their dog.
The couple says that they don’t know what she’s talking about. The woman kicks it into high gear and hilariously comes out from her front stoop to tell them to get off the sidewalk, that it’s hers, and that anything *cue hand motion* around her house, she owns.
The woman is so cartoonish that this video seems staged. Still, seeing that the other things on this list happened, we would expect nothing less of a fuzzy bathrobed stranger looking to pick a fight on a sunny southern morning.