The Original Post
I used to work at a medical office and it was a chain. The culture was very corporate. I didn’t really fit in there but I tried to just keep my head down and do my very best at my job. One girl there seems to really not like me. Which is fine. I’m not a $100 bill for everyone to like me. But she’d do petty things like unplug my monitor and keyboard before I’d get to my desk in the morning. We also shared documentation responsibilities and she would neglect her end which I wouldn’t know about until I’d get an ear full from my boss. So I decided to get back at her in the pettiest way I possibly could. Her entire personality was “being from Brooklyn” like oh believe me I’m from Brooklyn I know pizza” or “I’m from Brooklyn we don’t stand for shit like that” yada yada.
One day I was castigated for something she did and I got really mad. So for the rest of the day, I pretended not to know what Brooklyn is. I’d ask like oh is that some town in Ohio? Oh it’s in New York? Is it like upstate? One of the five boroughs? Everyone knows there’s only four boroughs in New York. That’s Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. When she showed me Brooklyn on the Internet, I just said that’s not real. Brooklyn is an Internet hoax. She got so incredibly frustrated. She started crashing out. The best part is what’s she gonna tell HR? I’m bullying her by pretending not to know what Brooklyn is?
This was a long time ago, but I figured it was a good place to share
What Reddit Said
Redditors absolutely loved this petty revenge story. Many found it deeply satisfying and relatable. Several commenters shared their own experiences with people whose entire personality revolves around being from Brooklyn.
The comments revealed this is apparently a common phenomenon. One user shared how their Brooklyn-obsessed father never actually took them to visit the magical borough he constantly talked about. Another commenter described using similar tactics against their boss who kept “mistaking” Brooklyn for the Bronx.
The Verdict
Reddit’s verdict was unanimous: this was brilliant petty revenge. The strategy of pretending not to know Brooklyn was both creative and perfectly targeted. It struck at the core of the coworker’s identity while being completely HR-proof. This belongs in the hall of fame for petty revenge stories that are both harmless and devastatingly effective.
Original post from r/pettyrevenge (3,694 upvotes, 191 comments)