I don’t like to use the word “snowflake” because it gets thrown around a lot, but it’s pretty true…people out there seem to get offended by everything these days.
Hey, a lot of things are definitely worth getting worked up over but others…not so much…
AskReddit users talked about the most inoffensive things that they’ve seen people get upset about.
Let’s take a look!
1. Hmmm…
“I spent 9 hours deep-cleaning the house for an inspection. I went above and beyond, clearing my work schedule and going the extra mile, and my roommate “double checked” my work.
He had a complete psychotic meltdown because I forgot to sweep underneath the couch.
I moved out the next day and never spoke to him again.”
2. Time for a lecture.
“I was at the vet with my cat and he sneezed.
This was apparently very offensive to an elder woman (she was there with a corgi) and she started screaming at me for about 30 minutes about pet hygiene.”
3. Uhhh, okay…
“My 7-month-old was wearing a shirt that had a rocket ship and the ‘NASA’ logo on it and a middle-aged woman in the shop said, “he shouldn’t be wearing that because he’s clearly not an astronaut.”
I was dumbfounded…”
4. That’s weird.
“I had a coworker who got mad at me because I asked her not to tickle me.
(a) That’s inappropriate at work; (b) we’re not children, we’re not in a relationship, we’re not family; (c) I DON’T LIKE BEING TICKLED.
She flipped out and said everyone likes being tickled and I was being mean to her. Happily my boss had my back.
Edit: this happened over a decade ago, I don’t work with that woman or for that company. In fact, even the company doesn’t exist anymore.
I am also a woman.
The coworker was very young and immature. This was her first job, her first time in a professional environment, and she really had no clue about professional workplace behavior. I wasn’t upset because she truly thought she was being friendly.
But I still don’t like being tickled.”
5. You okay, Mom?
“When I was a child, my mom paid for something with a check.
The cashier remarked that my mom had nice hand writing.
My mom flew off the handle, and we had to storm out of the shop in outrage.
To this day, I have no idea what happened.”
6. Get a life.
“I worked at a restaurant and we put up some Halloween decorations.
We had to take them all down when someone found the glittery skull decoration offensive .”
7. We’re done here.
“Had someone get offended by me calling my brother “bro”. They insisted that I was racist and that white people can’t be related to Mexicans.
Like seriously lady. That’s not how genetics work. We are 100% related and are a mix of white and Native American. Its not that unheard of for one biological sibling to come out lighter or darker than the other.
And even if we weren’t related… Seriously? I’m racist for calling someone close to me my bro despite being different skin tones? Seriously?
Thank you for coming to my rant session. Have a good day.”
8. Mascot wars.
“We were choosing a mascot for a summer camp where I worked. It was the first day of camp and we’d always let the campers vote on a mascot that we’d use for the rest of the summer as sort of a bonding thing.
This year, the kids voted for Wolves as the mascot. It was almost unanimous. But one kid, probably about 9 or 10, threw a fit because wolves are “bad guys” and predators and killers and he doesn’t want to be a wolf, he wants to be a hero. He refused to participate in any team activities because he didn’t want to be on a team with the “bad guys.”
At one point, we brought in a guy in a full mascot wolf costume for some anti-bullying program and the kid had a massive tantrum. I almost felt like we were going to learn at some point that his brother was killed by wolves or some other tragic origin story.
I did feel bad for the boy because I was fairly certain he had some kind of unaddressed emotional difficulties or something, but we weren’t going to change the mascot name that almost everyone voted for.
The really sad thing is that wolf populations have suffered a lot due to stereotypes that they’re “bad.””
9. Mind your own business.
“Using a walking stick.
I was in a car accident a few years ago and it f*cked my leg up. Since then I’ve been using a walking stick. I was walking to shop (pre-pandemic) and an old bloke gave me the dirtiest look i’ve ever seen.
“What do you need a cane for? You’re only a kid…”
He actually got quite p*ssy just seeing me using a stick. Like, my dude, i’m just out trying to buy some milk, I don’t need your sh*t today.”
10. What are you talking about?
“Maybe 22 years ago, I had a phone interview with a baking company. I didn’t care to have my peers know what I was up to so I took the call on my cell phone in my car. The call was crystal clear and no technical issues.
At one point, they had mentioned the weather and asked how it was where I was. I told him that I was sitting in my car and I could see that it was actively snowing and what not. The interviewer asked me, “are you taking this call on a cell phone?”
I told him I was. Then he asked me if I thought that was appropriate. I asked him what he meant by that. He said he thought it was kind of rude to take a formal call on a cell phone. I told him I would be more than happy to conclude the interview if talking on a cell phone was an issue.
If he was interested, I’d be happy to continue it the next day when I’d be at a desk. He again repeated how rude he thought it was that I had called from a cell phone and that there was no need to continue the interview process. I disagreed with the first point but did agree with the second.
To this day, I wonder what the hell he was talking about and where he was coming from.”
11. Just trying not to die over here.
“One time someone got offended when I put on my seatbelt
She thought I was commenting on her ability to drive.”
12. Good grief.
“We used an app at work called Bonfyre.
One person refused to use it because bonfires are for witchcraft and pagans.”
13. Everyone just calm down.
“Someone once got offended because I used the word black in conversation…..I was talking about an article of clothing/the color black.
They tried to make in to something about race, and that I shouldn’t use the term black anymore, and should say African American, I said that makes no sense I’m literally talking about the color black.
Am I supposed to say I’m wearing an African American colored shirt?! Maybe I’m crazy but I think that’s actually offensive”
14. She sounds like a blast.
“This guy at a Halloween party I was at was dressed in a giant bacon costume.
Some girl was yelling at him for being so offensive toward Jews and Muslims (she was neither Jewish nor Muslim). One of the Muslim guys at the party asked her what the f*ck she was talking about but she didn’t back down.
I have no idea why people feel they need to go out of their way to be (inaccurately) offended on behalf of other cultures/religions.”
15. Makes perfect sense.
“While working tech support back during the dot com boom I had a customer get upset with me over the use of the word “icon”.
He said it had religious implications and he insisted I call Windows icons “little picture things”.”
16. Get a grip.
“A f*cking picture of an eye.
We have an organization-wide theme every year and all the PC’s on our network have the same background and theme which can’t be changed. So this year’s theme is “Vision is 2020” and the background was a zoomed-in picture of an eye in really awesome colors.
Two women on staff wrote letters to complain that the picture was “heathen” as it drew from “Illuminati” imagery and paid tribute to the “all-seeing eye of Egyptian deities”.
They wined and complained to such an extent that the picture was eventually changed to shut them up and let the normal folks get back to our actual work.”
17. Oh, Jared…
“I sang the song “hit the road jack” to a kid I just beat in a game while in the 3rd grade mockingly.
He took that as me calling him a jack*ss. He told the recess monitor this. I was told to stand against a wall away from the rest of the kids with the recess monitor.
I am now 27 now, married with two kids but I will never forget this.
If you ever see this I DIDN’T CALL YOU A JACK*SS JARED, BUT NOW, F*CK YOU FOREVER.”
18. That’s how they do it.
“Got chewed out once for saying, “yes ma’am,” to a lady.
I’m in the south, that’s what we do.”
19. Was he a total psycho?
“A sandwich. I kid you not.
My ex husband was given a sandwich by our then 13yr old daughter and because she cut the sandwich he went off on a massive strop about how his sandwiches should never be cut etc.
The poor kid’s face, she was crushed. It still winds me up no end every time I think about it.”
20. People can be terrible.
“I worked at a movie theater. Went above and beyond for a customer who only wanted a certain amount of oil and salt for his popcorn.
I had to make him his own batch and risk burning myself to catch some of the hot oil in a cup before it went into the kettle. He then realized he was late for his movie. He asked if there was any way I could bring his food to him in the theater. Never heard that before, but sure! I don’t mind.
Bring him all of his food and he says thank you. I smile and say “no problem!” I was genuinely happy to do this for him.
He throws a fit and complains to my manager. Me saying “no problem” somehow insinuates that when customers ask you to do something it can be a problem. Said I should get written up for not saying “you’re welcome” instead.”
21. Violent imagery.
“I managed a small, new team that had no procedures or policies, so I set about instituting some.
“I mean, you never know, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and then no one would know how to process these requests,” I told them, when asking for their feedback and for them to write up how they did their tasks. Then we would come back together and decide best practices in a meeting.
Little man filed a complaint to the manager for my use of “violent imagery” and said that he felt threatened. It was a whole thing. Ultimately, he got fired.”
22. You’re wrong.
“I’m a white South African.
Born here, my nationality is South African.
Some American girl got offended that I called myself South “African” as a white dude, and said that only people of color can call themselves that.
Uhhh, it’s a nationality.”
23. I’m being persecuted!
“At my wedding we marked the vegetarian items as vegetarian.
This made the one vegetarian at my wedding (sister in law who hates me) fly into a catatonic rage because we are singling out the vegetarian food as vegetarian and not treating it as normal food.
Then how the f*ck are they supposed to know its vegetarian?”
24. This is offensive to me.
“This happened just last week.
I work at a bank in an affluent part of Atlanta (read: Old White Money), and a woman called in to let us know she was offended by the security questions for her online banking.
The security questions. She herself setup.”
25. The nerve of these people!
“My dad loves to tell the story of how, shortly after they were married, he and mom went to get some fast food.
As they pulled up to the drive through window, my very conservative mom saw a sign that said “Condiments available upon request” and said “OMG, that’s disgusting! WHY would a restaurant feel the need to give those out!?”
She had misread it and thought they were giving out condoms upon request.”
Now we want to hear your stories.
In the comments, tell us the most inoffensive thing that you’ve seen people get offended by.
Please and thank you!
