Most of us were taught the “Golden Rule” from a young age: treat others the way you want to be treated. Despite how simple this sounds, plenty of people still have trouble being kind, considerate and empathetic. But it can be comforting to know that if someone has wronged you, karma will definitely come for them. And sometimes, it’s incredibly fast-acting!

Redditors have been sharing their best “instant karma” stories, so we’ve gathered the most amusing ones below. From people being punished for their selfishness to others being rewarded for their generosity, this list is full of stories that might convince you that karma is real. Be sure to upvote the ones that inspire you to behave a little bit better, and keep reading to find a conversation with Gina Vild!

#1

I’ve worked at the same company for over 6 years. I was a loyal, good employee with a perfect track-record. Over the 6 years I’ve only called in sick twice. I had the best results, the least amount of errors on paperwork in the whole region and quite possibly the whole country. My new boss decided that that wasn’t enough. He minimized my hours (they get a bonus to keep labor low), expanded my workload and never had anything nice to say. He seemed to think ruling with an iron fist is the way to go about this. Even after all this, I’m the one who kept his head above water, fixing his errors along the way.

So today I resign my position with immediate effect, which in terms cancelled his vacation plans for next week. On top of that, there is no one to fill my position. As soon as I mouthed the words “I quit” you could see the terror in his eyes. I’ve never felt such a sense of instant karma as today. I never meant to cancel his vacation, but I wasn’t going to put his needs before mine.

Image credits: barrygibb

#2

Today I missed my bus to help an elderly woman with her groceries only to have a friend pass me driving and offer to give me a ride home.

Image credits: erinnbecky

#3

Worked for a small lottery parlor chain for the better part of a year back around 2008. It was a single employee operation, so I worked a 10 hour shift with no breaks or a lunch. All in all, it wasn’t a bad job and had good tips.

One day, out of the blue, the region manager calls me into the store and tells me that I’m suspended. No warning whatsoever. I asked her why, and she flat out tells me that I’m frightening away the patrons because of my sexuality (gay). The next day, she calls me to say that I’m no longer needed. I tried for a lawsuit, but it was he said she said kinda thing.

Flash forward to last month. I get a call from a lawyer asking me if I want to take part in a class action lawsuit against this company for discrimination and unfair wage compensation practices. I told them my story and now I’m a class representative for the case. I’m so ready for this court case.

**TL;DR, Fired from company for being gay. Years later, part of lawsuit against said company. Delayed karma, but oh so sweet.**.

Image credits: SiberianTora

To learn more about this topic, we got in touch with Gina Vild, co-author of The Two Most Important Days, How to Find Your Purpose and Live a Happier, Healthier Life, and the upcoming book Buoyant, The Art and Science of a Resilient Life. Gina was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and discuss whether or not karma is real.

“Not only do I believe in karma, but researchers have something to say about it,” she shared. “First, let’s define karma as the concept that every action, whether beneficial or detrimental to others, creates consequences that shape our future experiences. In essence, good deeds that enrich others will boomerang back to us, while actions that inflict harm will, in return, sow negative outcomes.”

” Science increasingly echoes that our behavior shapes outcomes,” Gina explained. “Studies show that belief in karma influences behavior, inspiring generosity, ethical behavior, and prosocial action. In one cross-cultural study, people who believed in karma were more likely to help others and reported a stronger sense of purpose and well-being.”

#4

I worked at a Kmart in high school. It was a small store, so I worked everything, electronics, stocking, cashier. You name it, I did it. I asked a woman and her son, about 12 or 13, if they needed help finding anything as I was out on the floor, and the kid immediately bitches me out for annoying him. I ignore it, and go about my business. Right after that I get called to checkouts. As I’m working there, here comes the pair. The kid has gone all out back in the electronics area, with some EA sports titles and a GTA game. I’m checking them out when the age prompt comes up for the M rated game. I decide to take a chance. I flip the game over, and inform the mother that “This game has been rated M for the following reasons” and read the list off the back of the case. There is an awkward silence, then she angrily informs me that the son said it was only a little violent. Kid wasn’t able to get anything that day.

Image credits: AMathmagician

#5

I ran into a guy I went to high school with at a bar one night. Always found him attractive and I had been drinking so I went to talk to him. He was very very drunk and I was not into it at all, but I’m a polite little butterfly who will suffer through horrible conversation I started.

I’m trying to tell him where I work when he suddenly interrupts me and asks if I got a college degree. I said no. He is DISGUSTED. Said he would never have talked to me if he knew that and I was a piece of trash. I went to the bathroom and cried. My inability to pay for college was a sensitive subject for me.

The very next day I am at work as a branch manager of a large local bank. One of my tellers needs me to do an override. I leave and go to the teller line to notice him standing with an older lady. Grandma, it turns out. She was there to transfer money from her account to cover his negative balance and wanted to know if any could be refunded.

I refunded all of them. The fact that he couldn’t look me in the eye was the best karma I ever got.

Image credits: justinappropriate

#6

I tried to explain to my company how they were breaking the law with one of their procedures. They didn’t listen, said somebody up the line would have caught it. Later, illegally fired me whilst I was on FMLA leave. Was, statistically at least, their best employee at my position out of 500 people.
They got fined 250K for the violation I brought up several times. I’m still unemployed but I go hiking all day and love my life. Have enough saved up to last me until I do find work.

Image credits: NewAlt

“Research also confirms that doing good benefits not only the receiver but also the giver,” Gina continued. “The benefits are social, psychological, and even biological. Here’s how it works: Kind acts release endorphins, which boost happiness, reduce stress, and strengthen our sense of connection and meaning with others. Doing good quite literally changes the brain. For example, people who spend money on others report greater happiness than those who spend it on themselves. They experience what psychologists call the ‘helper’s high.'”

“Even when kindness is offered with self-interest as the goal, which rather misses the spirit of karma, the act itself will be transformative,” the expert continued. “The goodwill and psychological benefit to the giver will likely prompt a spiral of generosity that ultimately reshapes the intent. There is abundant evidence that one good deed generally inspires, on average, three additional generous acts by the recipient, creating a ripple effect that spreads far beyond the original act. In this way, science affirms that goodness begets goodness – regardless of original intent.”

#7

It isn’t a job related story, but my little sister’s friend was being real mean to me; following me around, mocking everything I said, making rude commentary on everything I did. I told her she shouldn’t do things like that to someone older than her, because it could have dire consequences. Anyhow, they conned me into playing hide n seek with them and the rules were to STAY IN THE HOUSE.

I searched high and low and couldn’t find her anywhere. My sister had no clue either, and neither of us heard the doors open, so we didn’t think she could be out there. Turns out the kid decided to go outside. Well… she hid in the back of my mom’s truck. It has a camper shell that can be locked from the outside.

I guess someone saw it open and locked it while the kid was hiding inside. She ended up pissing her pants.

I volunteered to unlock it and I took my sweet time, staring at her with this grin.

It was great.

Image credits: andianopolis

#8

My ex-wife got pregnant by some other guy. I took my son and moved out and he moved in with her. I stepped back, did nothing vindictive at all, and just let the two of them wreck each others’ lives. They were so thorough about it, I wound up feeling bad for them. It wasn’t quite instant but it was something that took care of itself. I never did anything to move it along.

Image credits: anon

#9

I was stopped at a red light waiting to turn right. I couldn’t see if there was any traffic coming because of how the intersection was set up and the bus in the left turn lane so I was just waiting for a green. The person behind me clearly wanted me to turn because she was honking, yelling and giving me the finger. After a couple seconds she decided to drive around me and was immediately T-boned.

Image credits: mopedphile

So is there anything we can do to improve our karma? “It is this simple: As the Dalai Lama said: ‘Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.’ This mindset will put your thoughts and actions in harmony,” Gina shared.

“To enhance your karma, always act with the intention to do good. Pause and ask yourself: What can I do right now to make someone’s life a little better? Kindness can show up in both small acts and large,” she explained. “You might let a hurried shopper go ahead of you in the grocery line, allow another car to merge in front of you, volunteer to clean up a beach, or become a mentor to a child. Even the simple act of smiling can elevate someone’s day. Remember, nothing is more contagious than a smile.”

#10

My kid was trying to throw sand in her cousin’s hair, and a wind gust blew it back in her eyes. I shrugged and said, “instant karma, baby”.

Image credits: socolloquial

#11

When I was a kid, I was the youngest of all the kids on my block. The other kids (including my sister) would have fun tormenting me. They would try and exclude me from things on the basis of “you have to be X years old to do it.”

The worst of them was Marcus. One day Marcus and I, along with some of the other kids, went to a nearby school to ride around on our scooters (oh yeah). Marcus convinced me that to be “cool” I had to jump down a flight of 5 stairs. I succeeded, but broke my scooter in the process.

As the kids rode off, laughing at me for not being able to join them, Marcus’ front wheel caught in a crack in the concrete. He FLEW over the handlebars straight into a flagpole. I nearly died laughing. I broke my scooter; he broke his face.

Image credits: anon

#12

I did that once. Worked for a company that moved out over the weekend, cuz they were locking us out that Monday.. Yep, no movers. Moved into a new office, and being an internet company, it was important The internet worked.. Ever try to get someone out on a weekend from the phone company, the provider for our T-1.

Got everything hooked up, and gosh, no internet. So he called me in on Sunday to talk to tech support. I’m a family man, and we had a very nice dinner planned. But no, work was more important to my boss. Told him ok, but he’d need to meet me at the office. I did the tech support call, and still no boss.. Called him again, and told him I really needed him in the office.

I handed him my key, the list of passwords to the server, wrapped in my resignation letter. Told him I had a family, and being pulled away from Easter Sunday dinner to talk to tech support to only have them confirm what I’d told him Friday and Saturday was the last straw. To.d him that I was sure he could find another java/php/linux admin on short notice, or he could figure it out himself.

tl; dr: Left a sleezy boss after he forced me to come into the office to make a tech support call on Easter weekend, to get them to confirm what I’d been telling him all along.

Image credits: Llyran

“Also, be the force that puts an end to bad karma,” Gina says. “While we can’t rewrite the past, we can transform negative energy. Remember that resentment and envy are forms of negative karma. When you feel wronged, resist the urge to respond in kind. Choose forgiveness and understanding. Remember the adage, ‘Be kind. Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.’ Each act of understanding and restraint creates its own gift of goodness.”

#13

As the low man on the totem pole, I got to do all of the grunt labor and random tasks that required working on weekends and such… as a master engineer working in a 9-5 job… being paid less than a pizza delivery driver. Then my boss decided that I no longer got to comp time (leave early or whatever to get back some of the time spent working on weekends), because I was salaried and “it was part of the job.”

So, when I quit to go get my PhD, they realized that I hadn’t used any vacation time. The ultra penny pincher had to write me a check for two extra months worth of pay as I walked out the door.

Image credits: Pizzadude

#14

My Karma comes from my last few days at secondary school, we are all around 17/18 years old and have been in the same morning registration class for 6 years every single school day. Everyone seemed to be emotional about it, with most of the girls crying, even a couple of the guys.

The head boy in our year, who was in our registration class, had a surprise, and had hired a bouncy castle just for us! Now I had always been the biggest guy in school, 6 foot tall and around 20 stone (300 lbs to you Yanks) but I was also one of the quietest, and I only went on after most of the other folk had their turn and gone to do something else.

I pluck up some courage because this looked like so much fun, and I start bouncing and bouncing higher and higher, and then this p***k Paul pushes me when I am at my highest and I land on my side on the ground, which was thankfully grass.

I slowly sit up in a little pain, and Paul is laughing his head off and pointing at me, trying to get as much attention so other folk can start laughing at my misfortune. I get up and go back inside and sit there on my own, while I think about how s**t school has always been, nearly on the brink of onions.

Here comes the karma.

The head boy comes in a minute later, and tells me he saw the whole thing and that he knows how to get my own back…

Paul is still bouncing around like a p***k, and I get back on at the furtherest end of the bouncy castle, I get into a bounce which is timed slightly behind Pauls, and then I do the biggest jump I could, curled up into a cannonball and hit the castle floor with all my weight.

Paul ended up bouncing RIGHT OVER the wall of the castle and landing hard on the other side, he was ok though, only his pride was dented, but everyone who saw it was in absolute hysterics. Everyone started to tell the story of Paul flying over the wall of the castle, and classmates who I had never really gotten on with came up to me and told me how awesome it was. It was the only day where I felt accepted at school, just a shame it was one of the last.

Image credits: DJRobOwen

#15

I’m an IT consultant, and have a rep of being really competent with Microsoft Exchange Server. A couple of years ago I bid on but did not get a project to upgrade an Exchange 2003 environment to Exchange 2010. Multiple servers, multiple sites and right up my alley. The firm that won the bid did so by pricing it extremely low, about 40% below my price which was on the low end to begin with. Totally unrealistic pricing but they thought they could pull it off with their people. Their people were good generalists but did not have a handle on Exchange 2010.

I told the customer – who I’d done work for before and who I’d had a good relationship with – that it was not going to end well for them. They took it as sour grapes on my part. Fair enough. I had plenty of other things to do anyway so I just moved on.

Two weeks after they started the implementation phase of the job the other consulting firm augured in. The entire email system stopped working. No mail coming in or out, no mail flowing between any of the Exchange servers, everything just dead in the water. I find this out when I get a call late one evening at my home from the other consulting company begging me to pull them out of the fire. I told them no thanks. An hour later the owner of the other firm is at my front door trying to convince me to help them “for the sake of the customer”. This is well after dark and the conversation does not go well. He ends up screaming at me and I slam the door then call the cops because I’m tired and afraid that I’ll do something stupid if I continue to interact with the guy.

Cops come, he loses it, they arrest him for disorderly conduct and I have his d**n car blocking mine in my driveway. I have it towed off (I had to pay for the privilege too). He spends the next 24 hours in jail, about average for getting through the Dallas County jail I’m told.

The customer called me the following day and I again declined to fix the mess. By this time I’d decided I didn’t want any of that s**t on me, period.

The customer ends up getting Microsoft Services in to fix everything (cost them about 5 times what I was going to charge by the way). The customer sues the other consulting firm, which promptly files for bankruptcy / closes its doors rather than deal with the lawsuit.

Image credits: DallasITGuy

But it’s important to remember that karma won’t always be as fast-acting as it was in these stories.

“Karma is not inherently transactional,” Gina noted. “Yet goodness generally returns to us more quickly than we realize. When we act with kind intention, we feel its reward almost instantly by experiencing a lift in our mood, a sense of connection with others, and satisfaction that we have been the source of something positive. This is the first wave of karma. As our positive actions ripple outward, they will eventually circle back to us in unexpected forms of goodwill and opportunity.”

#16

Once quit a job to only then have the boss chase my jeep on foot screaming at me. He repeatedly called to get me to go back. Felt great.

Image credits: anon

#17

My sister tried to punch me once ever. I ducked and she broke her finger hitting the wall.

Image credits: ImNotJesus

#18

We were driving to Tulsa, Ok from Alabama in 2004 for Christmas. During the trip it started to snow…a lot. Now my spouse learned to drive in snow, so he was following the rules, drive cautiously and not be an idiot.

However there were a lot of people that apparently missed that. My favorite was the guy in the SUV who decided he had a big ol car and he was going to get pass that idiot driving slowly in the icy snow. He gunned around us, attempting to hit 60 mph…which he did, immediately before spinning a 360 off the road and getting stuck in the ditch.

We stopped counting cars in the ditch when we hit the mid 100’s.

Image credits: kendiara

#19

I was dating this awful girl for awhile, because ya know, I was stupid. She had a temper and was always flying off the handle. One of those people who is never happy. Complains about everything. We had a fight that morning about her irrational temper. Later that day I called her to tell her I had to work late. She freaked out and punched the wall as soon as our conversation ended. Turns out she punched a part of the wall that was solid behind the drywall and shattered her hand. She was promptly dumped.

Image credits: anon

#20

My friend Collin and I were playing Mario Kart once and I kart slammed him in the last corner and won. He pulls his arm back and punches me as hard as he can in the arm.
The karma part: **His hand bounced off my arm and made him hit himself in the eye with full force. Bout knocked himself unconscious.**.

Image credits: anon

#21

I was working at this hosting company (System Administrator), 8 years. First 4 years was pretty good due due to being mediocre 50k job and didn’t have a life to live except playing FFXI 20 hours a day for 3 days, then back to a 4 day 12 hour shift. 5 years after that things started going down hill, a 1500% increase in work load (according to companie’s own slides), 3 people of a 15 people team left, and well, dealing with customers over the phone who liked to lie to get their $100,000 bill free for the current month (really, the company that didn’t like to spend money on its employees, was getting bilked tons of their own cash due to their own f*****g ‘guarentee’)

After the 4th year 15-20 hour days (hourly but they didnt want to pay OT), took ONE vacation in 8 years which was 4 days; they barred me from using the rest due to ‘no coverage’ they never hired anyone for weekend work was the ONLY guy at night. Long story short the crappy customers I couldn’t deal with anymore, and got stressed to the point of multiple panic attacks and declining health.

Started looking for a new job, which the company found out, and promptly fired me when I took 2 sick days (took 10 in a total of 8 years) because a friend ‘tagged me at home’ on facebook (we are roommates). Go figure, and their reasoning was ‘dropped a call from a customer 5 days back’ when I was on a lunch break. I knew who set me up, but really didn’t care in the end.

Golden lining was:

* I had already passed my 3 interviews to this rather large tech company, I was just waiting on their offer letter, so the job was mine (almost at the 100k mark so 2x my old pay)

* Got hired on, then recruited people from my old company “to get out of that shithole and get paid real money” which I got them paid 20-30k more. (2x 2300, and one $3500 bonus)

* Filed for unemployment which they denied first time around, just to overturned it once they found the company lied, and the history of no vacations, minimal sick days, came back to haunt them. They paid for my unemployment plus a check for ALL my vacation time accrued for 4 years (due to their OWN policy).

* One year into my current company, I had worked the same as I did at the old company. Result, 3 bonuses, an award, and a promotion.

Image credits: anon

#22

Some guy at a gas station pulled the “stare aggressively at you from my car as I go past to assert my imaginary dominance” move as I was walking across the parking lot and he was pulling into the pump. He hit a pole that didn’t budge and knocked his headlight out.

Image credits: anon

#23

I was targeted for firing. It had nothing to do with my performance, everything to do with my manager’s manager that took a disliking to me. I walked the line of perfection for about a month until I found another job. I handed in my 2 weeks’ notice. That was victory number one. I stole about a half-dozen of their employees and got them hired into my new company, that was victory number 2 (yes redditors, sometimes being in a right to work state works for the little guy, non-compete clauses are almost completely unenforceable). I’d like to think that victory number 3 was the 30 or 40 employees they lost in the following year, but I cant claim direct responsability for that. Thing is, when you have employees with high-demand skills like software engineering, you best treat them right.

Image credits: magicmuds

#24

My first job out of high school was working for a rather famous and nation-wide guitar store chain. At first I thought it would fun, getting to be around guitars all day, and talk music with fellow musicians. Turns out I was wrong, that 10-hour shifts 5-6 days a week while listening to slighty-too-loud overhead music and 14-year-olds play the first 5 bars of “Crazy Train” over and over and over again wasn’t actually all that great. But I stuck it out, I needed money and I have one of those “don’t quit ever” attitudes.

When I got hied, the store was in serious trouble. They had recently fired a huge chunk of the staff for skimming profits nd selling pot out of the warehouse. Their numbers were really low, and corporate as breathing down their necks. But, as it turns out, I have a penchant or selling stuff that I know about. I was the accessories guy, and got really, really good at it. I was routinely rolling $30k or better a month out the door, and the most expensive thing I had in my department was only $500. I also had one of the lowest return rates on the west coast, and a file with several letters from happy customers saying how much help I had been. Eventually, the store’s numbers improved, especially my department. Eventually, we were #1 for our district, and #3 on the west coast, behind Hollywood and San Francisco.

However, NONE of that mattered to the GM or anyone from corporate. All they wanted was more from me. My numbers had to be better every month, or I’d get yelled at. I was written up for having a low sales month one January because I went on vacation. I would get daily emails and phone calls from the district and regional managers, demaning to know why I hadn’t hit $xxxx in sales yet. My hours got bumped up to the point where my days consisted of sleeping, showering, eating, and working. I had zero social life. My gf at the time would go weeks without seeing me. Eventually, because of the stress, I developed a ulcer. So I decided to quit.

I threw myself into my last month, which just happened to be December, the month all retail workers hate. I worked extra hours, sold as much as I could, contacted old customers, you name it. Blew everyone out of the water, rolling just shy of $80,000 in gear. My boss called me in to his office, and said I was doing a good (not great, good) job, and to keep it up. I pointed to the sales numbers screen, pointed out how well I had been doing and how well liked I was by the customers, and asked for a raise. He laughed and said no. So I handed him my resignation letter. 2 weeks later I was done and starting classes in college, something I’d had to put off since work wouldn’t allow me to cut hours for school.

I came back to the store a couple months later, as someone who had worked with me called and said they’d found a jacket of mine in the warehouse. When I showed up, the GM wasn’t there. I asked, and what I wastold was that apparently, corporate HAD noticed me, and when my GM had failed to retain me, they’d fired him. Also, that department went from #1 to #9 in the district, out of 11 stores. The district managers were scrambling to recover, a few got demoted because of how things panned out, and the extreme higher-ups were not happy that the district was in such a state. I laughed the laugh of the vindicated.

**TL;DR** – Quit the Evil Empire, people got fired or demoted because of it, and I had a good belly laugh over it.

**EDIT:** Jesus Christ, Mother Mary, Joseph, and all their dancing little midgets, I was NOT expecting this kind of a response, let alone someone sending me reddit gold!! I have a big dumb grin over here.

And for those of you who work retail, take a chapter from my book. Work hard, become indespensible. Eitherthe company will be decent and reward you, or they’ll be corporate douches and you can f**k them by quitting. Stand up for yourself, you don’t need to be treated like a machine or worse.

Image credits: Osiris32

#25

My ex husband installed a key logger on my computer before moving out. When busted in court he claimed he had implied permission because he could have figured out my passwords anyway. And he wished he didn’t have to read them because of all the hurtful things I said about him. Judge fined him 500 bucks an email, ordered him to reimburse me for a new laptop and told him if it ever happened again he’d spent a day in jail per email. In the six months that he’d been reading my email I’d sent almost 2000 emails on that machine. It was gorgeous.

Image credits: anon

#26

Today was the all day food drive I had spent months planning (we raised 13,000 pounds of food). On may way back from lunch I stopped to fill up my gas tank and left my wallet on top of my car, drove 30 miles down I-5 and back to the site where we were having the food drive. I got a call from the Anderson City Police. My wallet had fallen off the car, right as I reached an overpass, someone saw it fall and brought to the local police station. Not a thing missing. Instant karma for the good deed of the food drive.

Image credits: Opandemonium

#27

I worked selling shoes for 2 years on a weekend-only basis during school at a national chain. Never offered a raise, never offered to open the store, never given any recognition. When I asked for some more responsibilities, I was told I was unimportant, as two new outside managers were coming in. One managed a section of Petsmart, and the other had no prior experience. I put in my two weeks notice. Both people came in on my last day, so I showed them everything I learned and all the small quirks of the inventory that we had. Both quit within a week, and the store closed within 4 months.

Image credits: VulturE

#28

One time, I was at the Burger King drive- thru and since I am a vegetarian I politely requested a cheese burger deal minus the meat along with fries. I believe it was 1.99 for the burger deal of the day, and the manger told me I had to pay 3.99 because that is technically a veggie burger. However, I was still not getting a veggie patty. So, I told him that I would just take the fries, and to please forget the burger. But, the other staff had already put it in my take-out bag so I got it anyway! And since I didn’t pay for it, it was extra good.

Image credits: coley16

#29

Kind of lame compared to these.
Once when I was a kid, I was on a ferry traveling between some islands in Canada (the thousand islands I think? I’m not sure if that was a joke the guide made or if she was serious). There’s a guy on the deck smoking a cigar and being loud, rude and surly to everyone including me and my friend. Later on I saw him cursing in front of a soda machine that ate his dollar.

Image credits: bacon_butter

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