I have a question for you: have you ever bit off more than you can chew before?

Specifically, with another person?

If you have, you know that it’s never a good feeling when a person who is highly skilled at one specific thing rubs it in your face and makes you look like a dummy in front of a group of people?

Or, maybe the opposite thing happened and YOU were the one who was an expert at something and you got to throw it in someone’s face?

Do these situations sound familiar?

Let’s see what AskReddit users had to say.

1. Major facepalm.

“I’ve been a Type 1 Diabetic for 20 years.

People actually challenge me about how diabetes works because “my grandpa had diabetes”.

At least it’s to the point where it’s comical now how often it happens.”

2. Don’t mess with me.

“Hula hooping.

They resorted to throwing stuff at my hoop, because I kept going like the Energizer Bunny.”

3. LOTR.

“A pub in my city was doing a Lord of the Rings pub quiz, and me and my friends were all going.

One of my friends ended up on his own team for various reasons, and in the week leading up to the quiz kept gloating like “we’ve got this guy on our team, he knows EVERYTHING about Lord of the Rings, you guys are gonna LOSE!”

Now, I’m a big fan of the Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien generally, which is why he kept saying these things.

Come the day of the quiz, my team left the answers largely in my own hands. We won. Of the 47 questions asked, we got 47 correct.

My other friend? Second, yes, but he spent the entire time after the quiz looking sour. He didn’t speak to me for at least a month, and even then when he finally did he still brought up the quiz.

Stay salty, bro.”

4. You’re wrong.

“I had someone explain the meaning of a painting at a gallery show.

It was my painting.

They were wrong.”

5. Unbeatable.

“About 10 years ago, I was probably one of the top 300-400 players in the world at Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

In other words, I was basically unbeatable vs casual players that “played a lot when they were younger”.

A friend of a friend found out that I was into SF, and challenged me. Claims he was the neighborhood champ as a kid, and he’d wipe the floor with me.

I accepted his challenge, and made it a first to 10.

I won 10-0, and heard every excuse in the book for why he lost. He’s rusty, can’t remember how to do the moves, etc.”

6. You are now a legend.

“Guitar Hero.

Work held a Christmas party at a venue and set up the game for fun and prizes. I was the second oldest (47f) person there. All the younger employees were going ham and having a great time.

I wasn’t going to play until the prize was $500 for last person standing. I walked away $500 richer and also a legend. ??”

7. Paid the price.

“By no means an expert at all, but I have a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (training for about 5 years).

One of my mates was always trying to ‘catch me unawares’, and he would randomly try to tackle me, or grab me to see what I’d do. A bunch of us went bouldering, and on the crash mats he double legs me out of nowhere, and then was super upset when I put him straight in a triangle choke.

He never tried again after that, but like… you suddenly tackle me I’m going to respond pretty automatically, all this went down before I even realized what had happened and who was trying to wrestle me.

I felt bad afterwards, but it’s kind of what you get for randomly tackling girls out of nowhere..”

8. Oh, brother.

“Cycling. My younger brother has a personal vendetta against me.

Tried to tell him riding 100 miles not easy. He said man I can do 100 miles.

I was like ok i stay with you the first 50 miles, he didn’t make it past 10.

LOL!”

9. Cheese battle.

“A former coworker challenged me to a cheese-eating competition at an office get together.

Little did he know I love cheese and am the type of person to eat shredded cheese out the bag at 3 am.

He wimped out after 15 cubes of cheese from the deli platter while I basically cleared my whole section.”

10. This is good.

“When I was in high school, my brother and I went to Kansas during our spring break to take a week long cattle breeding course.

They had a lecture on beef cuts and as the teacher was going along, he misidentified a cut of beef and went on talking about what it was used for etc. it wasn’t a simple mix up, he firmly believed it. At the time I was a state competitor in meat judging.

I knew exactly what the different cuts are, where they come from, and how they’re cooked. So little, quiet, 15 year old me politely raised my hand and corrected the teacher. And he just stared at me, along with the rest of the class. Then he says “oh really?”.

So I politely tell him it’s a common mistake and the cut was actually x not y, x used for this, y used for that and so on. Then he just started laughing saying he had never once been corrected in the decades of teaching and go figure, he gets corrected by a high school girl.

For the rest of that lecture he would check his facts with me and direct class questions to me.’

11. Picked him apart.

“While I was in high school I was the reigning city fencing champion, in both the youth and adult tournaments.

My high school decided to do a school-wide fencing unit for Phys. Ed. and the coach they brought in to teach all of the students was my actual coach. During my classes, my coach naturally brought me up to help demonstrate the various moves, but for some reason one of my classmates didn’t understand that I wasn’t chosen at random.

He started talking sh*t about how I looked like I didn’t know what I was doing, and how he could probably kick my *ss in a duel. Now, he actually was pretty good for a guy who’d never fenced before, and at the first opportunity to actually have a bout, he decided to have a go at me.

I picked him apart and did not give up a single touch, and used the opportunity to practice my parry and ripostes (I admit, I took a bit of sadistic pleasure in thoroughly beating him).

Afterwards, my coach made a point of congratulating the other guy for doing so well against the city champ, which changed his attitude considerably.”

12. Just that one song.

“Not quite this but I tried to learn piano years ago, I bought a keyboard and learned the first movement of Moonlight Sonata but it was literally all I could play

I had just started a new job as a chef in a fancy hotel, had been there maybe a month and was at the Christmas party, I sat at a piano and the head chef pointed me out, laughing and said “look at you, you cant play the piano”.

I thought I’ll just act confident and play the only thing I can so was like “yeah i can.. I’ve played for years” and he said “oh really? Play moonlight sonata then”, couldn’t have gone better.

He was gobsmacked and I never told anyone there that I was actually cr*p at piano except that one song.”

13. Ugh.

“I have a PhD in genetics, and I’ve published multiple papers on viral vectors spreading in large populations.

Every anti-Vaxxer and COVID conspiracy theorist. I’m so sick of it.

Also, when someone I met at a social event found out that I work in a genetics research lab, he asked the following question:

“If two white Americans go to China and have a baby there, will it come out Asian?”

I was so shocked that I actually spit out my drink.”

14. Didn’t see that coming.

“Medieval Faire, 2002.

Carnie running the fencing game picks me out of the crowd for being tall, and challenges me to a free bout against “The Master”.

Not a lot of people fence, so his gambit probably worked most of the time, but when he handed me that saber, I handed him his *ss.”

15. See you on the court.

“A guy from work challenged me to a tennis match.

He must’ve been a hotshot back in his day and tbf as far as mid 40’s go he wasn’t bad.

I however was national team, whooped his *ss 6-0, 6-0. I would’ve eased up but when I warned him I’m pretty good, he laughed it off.”

16. Movie buff.

“Went to a couples night once and the guy had wall to wall movies and framed posters in his basement, super into it.

Mentioned I used to be a movie nerd but not so much anymore. He challenged us to a movie trivia board game, kinda in a condescending way and I tried to politely decline but my gf insisted we play.

They went first, missed the question then we ran the table. Never heard from them again.”

17. Chess match.

“I’ve played chess since I was young and was the best player in the middle school chess club.

The guy who owned the pool hall me and my juvenile delinquent friends hung out at was talking about how dumb kids are these days and said nobody in my group of hoodlums could play chess.

I beat him soundly, then again in the rematch.”

18. Pitch perfect.

“I have perfect pitch.

It’s not a thing I can turn off, notes simply ARE a pitch clear as day, much like how red is clearly distinct from green.

Any who, music class in junior high. Teacher explains that Mozart had perfect pitch and walks over to the piano, plays a note and says “and just by hearing it, he’d be able to tell you what now that was… now can any of YOU do that?”

At the time, I honestly had no idea this was rare. Raise hand, teacher with a smug look points and me and is gobsmacked when I answer correctly with note and octave. Figures it’s pure luck so does it again and asks me to face the other way. I answer correctly again.

Tries it with chords, sequences and two hands worth of notes. Still right every time. Ends with me playing back a short sequence after listening to it blind.

That day, I learned that perfect pitch is actually kind of rare.”

19. Showed him.

“My father in law challenged me about the capabilities of DVD. Specifically he claimed that you could only have widescreen video (not 4:3) on a DVD disc.

At the time I was employed as a DVD author. I authored the very first commercially available feature on Scenarist. I am literally acknowledged in the first edition of “DVD Demystified” as an expert. I had already by that time personally authored literally hundreds of DVD’s with 4:3 video.

He knew all of the above at the time, yet still insisted I was wrong.”

20. Don’t even try.

“For most of 2020 so far.

I am an infectious disease expert (PhD from a Microbiology and Immunology program) and suddenly all my former high school classmates think they know more than me.

They watch the news and learn a new vocabulary, and they bestow themselves a doctorate.”

21. Big-time gamer.

“I used to play fighting games competitively all over the world. Never made one of the top slots but I could usually hold my own. One of my best game was Super Street Fighter 2.

Went to a bar by work one day and they just so happened to have an SNES set up with SF2. I order a drink, pick random characters and just f*ck around for a bit. Some guy comes in and immediately starts bragging to his date that he’s the best SF2 player ever.

I asked him to play some games against me and offered to buy him a drink if he could beat 2 out of 3. Twelve games later I am completed hammered and he finally gives up and leaves.

Still don’t remember getting home that night.”

22. I bet this happens all the time.

“So it’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving a few years ago and I’m out with one of my old college friends and her extended family. We had just graduated the year before.

We post up at a bar outside for the game, everyone’s pleasantly mid-afternoon buzzed. Her uncle, whom I hadn’t met previously, asked what I do. I hated answering this question in 2017, especially with middle-aged adults, because they would invariably try to start something.

At the time, I worked at an immigration law firm. Predictably, as soon as I tell him this, he asks what I think about the wall, etc. I give him my usual answer “bipartisan immigration reform, Gang of Eight, etc.” He tells me not to give him the rehearsed crap, he wants to hear what I really think. I say Oh I don’t really want to get into it, let’s enjoy the game.”

But he keeps pushing and I’ve had a couple beers, so against my better judgment, I engage. This maybe 50 year old man becomes FURIOUS as the discussion carries on because I keep citing court cases and how our immigration system actually works.

The kicker is at one point he says “Just because you have all these statistics and citations doesn’t mean you know any better than me.” I just gave up and got another beer after that.”

23. Let me show you how it’s done.

“Not me but my friend used to ride a unicycle as a kid. He worked construction and they were working at a house that had an old unicycle

The other workers tried riding it and immediately fell off. My friend walked over to it and inspected the unicycle like it was the first time he ever saw one them said it didn’t look that difficult.

They all laughed at him and he said he thought he could ride it. Eventually one of them bet him $100 he couldn’t ride it. He jumped on it and immediately rode down the street.”

24. Duel.

“When we were having a couple drinks on friday after work, I was challenged to a shooting, by a colleague. Little did he know I’ve been shooting air rifles competitively ever since I was thirteen.

Not to say I am the greatest, but I’ve made it to the national finals for my country multiple times, and came third and sixth. I have all the special clothes and gear and such you need to make it to such a level.

The next day, saturday, we showed up to the range i always shoot at. Its not a day I usually train so not many people recognize me. I beat his *ss left right and center that day. Out of 600 points, he scored about 200-250 if i remember correctly. I got about 580 which was about average of what I used to shoot.

He had to buy me a fancy bottle of whisky and now we shoot every two or three weeks together. Fun times.”

25. It works.

“Far from an expert. Far from proficient.

But I’ve been told Jiu Jitsu doesn’t work by several froggy drunk dudes.

It works. It always works.”

26. Don’t mess with me.

“The property management company for my homeowner’s association insisted that I had received emails that I never received. So I asked them to prove that I had received them. They said they’re sure I received them.

I’m a software engineer and at the time I had just finished an enterprise email delivery system (like an in-house Constant Contact). I knew the rules of the CAN-SPAM Act by heart. I KNEW exactly how their system worked.

So this real b*tch of a property manager said “I know how email works. You wouldn’t understand.” I mentally did the arrogant knuckle crack and started to explain – very methodically – how email delivery works and how they’d track various actions.

I spent about five minutes detailing my credentials and why I was absolutely certain they had never sent me the emails they alleged I received. When I was finished, the HOA board just agreed to waive the fines.”

Has something like this ever happened to you?

If so, please tell us about it in the comments.

Thanks a lot!