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Article created by: Simona Kinderytė

Most of us have borrowed a thing or two from a friend or acquaintance. But there’s an unspoken rule of borrowing: you have to return the item in the same condition you got it in. Since people are even bad at returning cash (25% of Americans say they never got back the money they lent to a loved one), can we really expect anything more with physical property?

To see just how bad it gets, we’ve scoured the internet for the worst examples of people returning borrowed items in an atrocious state. From broken computer mice to wrecked cars and ruined attire, these entries might make your blood boil at least a little bit.

Read More: 40 Times People Learned The Hard Way Not To Let Others Borrow Their Stuff Again

#1 I Let A Colleague Borrow One Of My Favorite Books, And It Was Returned To Me With The Pages Written On And Stuffed With Sticky Notes

Image credits: lucasnevermind

#2 This Is Why I Hate Letting People Borrow Stuff

My mom borrowed my (nearly new) heels months ago and forgot them in her car… She found them like this today.

Image credits: likeneelyohara

#3 My Partner Borrowed My Car For A Few Days, And Gave It Back Like This

Image credits: kt-gd

#4 Roommate Let His Friend Use My Cast Iron Pan, She Ran It Through The Dishwasher, And Then He Left It In There For Days

Been seasoning this pan since I was 14 :/

Image credits: abakr0

#5 I Let My Colleague Borrow My Laptop Charger For A Meeting. This Is How He Returned It

When I mentioned it to him, he told me it was “clearly an accident” and said I can “easily buy another one.”

Image credits: CowboyLikeMemes

#6 I Let My Son’s Teacher Borrow The Penguin Sculpture I Made And She Left It In A Windowsill For 6 Months

I spent several hours moulding and painting this penguin. It was lightweight, rubbery and pretty indestructible, so when my son asked to bring it to school for show and tell I figured the worst that could happen would be it getting detached from the base, so l obliged. His teacher liked it so much she asked to “borrow” it to use as a decoration in her classroom. She told my son she’d give it back at the end of the year. This is what he brought home. Apparently, her chosen place to display it was in an east-facing window.
I worked so hard on this thing and was so freaking proud of it. How it looks now is exactly how I feel: deflated.

Image credits: DIY_Cosmetics

#7 Roommate Crashed My Car While Borrowing It To Go To Work Then Refuses To Pay Anything Unless I Let Her Continue To Drive It In The Future

Image credits: AloisDA

#8 I Let My Sister Borrow My AirPods. This Is How She Gave Them Back To Me

Apparently, it’s from her hair dye. I’ve tried everything, and the stain won’t come out. The fact that it happens to be the color of earwax annoys me the most.

Image credits: Luminescence000

#9 Borrowed My Car To A Friend And This Is How He Returned It. (I’m A Non-Smoker)

Image credits: Spr1nt87

#10 I Let Someone Borrow My Knife At Work, This Is How They Gave It Back To Me

Image credits: Inner_Juggernaut_959

#11 My Brother Borrowed One Of My Books And This Is How I Got It Back

Image credits: Hopeful_Canary1348

#12 My Computer After I Let My Friend Borrow It

Image credits: Egamer5s

#13 And They Wonder Why I Don’t Let Anyone Use My Knife. Found This Hanging Up On The Magnet

Image credits: Penguin_Tempura

#14 This Is What Happens When You Let Someone Borrow Your Truck

Image credits: Cowboypunkstarcactus

#15 My Son Asked To Borrow Some Duct Tape… This Is What He Gave Me Back. Somehow Took Out The Entire Middle And Just Left The Sides

Image credits: Cjp0705

#16 Friend Borrowed My Laptop. Said He Left It In His Car For A Day. What’s Going On With The Screen?

Image credits: Enefa

#17 Dad Borrowed My Tablet, Sat On It And Then Returned It Like This. God Damnit

Image credits: skids01reddit

#18 Loaned My Wife’s Brother My Truck So He Could Move. This Is What Greeted Me When I Got It Back

Image credits: I-Was_Never-Here

#19 I Let My Brother Ride My E-Bike. This Is How He Returned It

I’ve had the bike for maybe 2 weeks. I let him ride it to work yesterday because I didn’t need to ride it. I rode it to work today and when I took the battery off I saw the key and the battery. This is how I get it back? Not only that, but when I push the bike the chain makes a clicking sound.
This is my first time owning an ebike and I have no idea what to do. When I would ride it to work before the battery would stay on 6 bars the whole way there and would only go down 1 bar when I got back home. On the way to work today it went down 3 bars and the 2nd bar is flashing indicating it’s going to drop down again. I don’t even know if I’ll make it home in 6 hours or not, I’ve got nobody to pick me up so I’ll have to see how this goes and hope for the best.
I keep the e-bike in side to stay out of the rain. The battery is always removed from the bike when not in use.
He promised he would take care of it and if it rains he said he wouldn’t ride it. He lied.

Image credits: reddit.com

#20 My Mom Borrowed My Gaming Mouse Because She Lost Hers. This Is How She Returned It

Image credits: Ok_Present1145

#21 Before And After My Little Brother “Borrowed” My Racket For Badminton Practice

Image credits: Help_me_i_got_nolife

#22 My Friend Borrowed One Of My Records And Returned It 4 Days Later Like This

Image credits: SSS987114-A81

#23 I Think My Husband’s Going To Realize I Borrowed One Of His Extension Cords

Image credits: wakethesleepingpills

#24 Let My Friend Borrow My Earbuds For A Week

Before giving them to him, I took a toothpick to the insides, and wiped down the tips with disinfecting wipes, making sure that they were spotless. I’m a very clean person, almost to the point of being a mild germaphobe. I specifically asked him to take care of them, as they are $300 Sennheiser MTW 4s. He only asked to borrow them for a week, and I kind of forgot about it. A month later, I ask for them back, and he legit spends almost 20 minutes rooting through his wreck of a room before he finally pulls them out of a random pair of jeans on his floor. I thank him and head home shortly after. I pop the case open to give them a disinfecting wipe down before using them again, and see this abomination. Common sense and human decency people. sigh

Image credits: AshenFoxcicle

#25 When Someone Borrows Your Needle Nose Pliers And Returns Them Like This

Image credits: Liquidboard

#26 My Neighbor Borrowed My Hedge Trimmer. This Is What She Did To My Extension Cord

Bonus points for the best way how to fix this.

Image credits: Pieterbr

#27 I Let A Kid In My Class Borrow My Calculator, I Got It Back Covered In Scribbles

Image credits: beefyturban

#28 My Mom Borrowed My Car. Got It Back Smelling Like Cigarettes And My Mints Perfectly Trapped In My Cup Holder

Image credits: Superbaker123

#29 Let My Friend Borrow My Honey. This Is How It Came Back

Image credits: BreathingLeaves

#30 My Coworker Returned The Front Desk Stapler Like This. Told Me It Ran Out Of Staples

Image credits: Stupid_Genious

#31 Friend Asked To Borrow My Soldering Iron, And He Returned It Like This

Image credits: 21c4nn0ns

#32 Let My Girlfriend Borrow My Controller For One Set, Never Again. What Is This

Image credits: SweetestKaramel

#33 My Brother Taking My Bluetooth Headset Without Permission And Returning It Like This

Image credits: Gibbydoesit

#34 Let My Friend Borrow A Nintendo Switch Game. One Week Later It’s Damaged

Let my friend borrow Splatoon 3 for about a week. when I asked for it back. As I went to go play it was all messed up looking and wouldn’t work, it would also freeze up the entire console causing me to keep restarting it as I kept hoping it would work.

For comparison I put it next to a non damaged game in the second pic.

Image credits: TheHigherPower00

#35 Sister Borrowed My Guitar And Broke It

Image credits: YinKai0521

#36 My Ex-Wife Borrowed My Car Saying She Needed More Room. She Left Me Her Mini Cooper. This Is The Tire

I’m sure some people would consider this more than mildly infuriating but I guess she didn’t have the money to get it fixed and this was her way of asking for help. she can’t be driving my son around on a tire like that it’s not safe. “Well it wasn’t my car” would be a terrible eulogy.

Image credits: theaeao

#37 My Mom Let Me Borrow Her Cd. Broke It When I Tried To Pop It Off