There's nothing better than proving someone wrong, especially when they initially ask for your advice but later refuse to follow it. It might seem spiteful, but being right without needing to rub it in because the other person's misfortune already does that for you is just so, so satisfying. Here are the most satisfying "I told you so moments" people have ever experienced:
#1 Safety First
I had a friend who always rode his BMX bike with his headphones in, with the volume so loud he couldn't hear anything. On a few occasions, he couldn't hear us shouting things like "car" or "don't go," and he'd almost hurt us or himself. He crashed into me once after I fell, because he couldn't hear people shouting stop, and I flipped out and told him that one of these days he was going to really hurt someone or himself.
A week later, he rode directly out of a friend's driveway and got blindsided by a car. He was fine, save some cuts and bruises, but his bike was destroyed and he broke her windshield. Her lawyer basically proved it was his fault and he had to pay for the whole thing.
#2 Flirty Dog
My little dog will try to stick her tongue in your mouth. I don’t know why she does it, but it is some kind of obsession with her. She’s stealthy. She’s patient. She’s not messing around. She will look positively adorable and innocent while she waits for the perfect opportunity to tongue-punch your uvula. I try to warn people, but they never take me seriously.
I took her to the vet for her new puppy checkup and warned the vet tech this dog was gonna try to go to first base with him.
Me: Be careful. She will try to stick her tongue in your mouth.
Vet tech: No, she won’t. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.
Me: I’m serious. She will wait until you let your guard down, and then her whole tongue is in your mouth.
Vet tech: Look, this is my job and I’ve been doing this a long—Oh, SHE GOT ME!
Me: I freaking told you.
#3 Sensing Crazy
My ex started dating someone else. After he introduced us, he asked me what I thought of her and I said I had a bad feeling. The more I got to know her, the more I told him she's bad news. He laughed it off trying to say I was just jealous and still have feelings for him (I didn't). A few years later, he had to get legal representation as she destroyed his business, his family, stalked and harassed him, and even had him under investigation by the FBI. It took him a couple of years to clean up the whole mess.
#4 You've Been Warned
My ex who I was still friends with started dating this girl who used to be one of my friends. I got over it fast but I warned him about her since I knew her and her character He didn’t listen to me, and after a year, it turned out she was jealous, manipulative, and obsessive. Near the end of the relationship, she started cheating on him. They argued constantly and a week after they broke up, she had a new boyfriend living with her. That was the most satisfying “I told you so” I’ve said.
#5 Better Health
My wife's mother always told her she was being overly dramatic and making it up that her periods hurt. Everybody's period hurts, stop whining. After we got married, I encouraged her to see an actual doctor. She was RAPIDLY diagnosed with endometriosis. Life is so much better for her now that, thanks to actual medication for a professionally diagnosed condition, she just has unpleasant periods instead of "curl up in the bed with three heating pads whimpering for a week" ones.
#6 Surprise, Surprise
I went over to a friend's house in college and her dad was sleeping on the couch. She said, "Oh yeah, he's been sleeping there for like a year, he has a bad back." I was like my mom has a bad back too, but she saved up and bought a new mattress rather than sleep apart from my dad. "Your dad's been kicked out of the bedroom," I told her. She didn't believe me. Two months later, it came out that her dad was cheating on her mom. The only person surprised about it was my friend.
#7 In Disbelief
I saw some suspicious stuff when I was a kid that my dad explained away with some really flimsy stories, and I genuinely just rolled with it because the alibi was so comforting and didn’t turn my life upside down. Looking back after the truth came out that he was cheating, I was definitely dumb to believe anything else.
#8 Trust Your Gut
I was eight months pregnant and I started having contractions. I went to the OB and told them something was wrong, and they needed to get the baby out. They tested me for hours and said they were going to discharge me. I refused to leave and told them something was wrong. The doctor agreed to one last test and found the baby's heartbeat was getting weaker. They wheeled me into the OR ten minutes later.
My daughter was born with no heartbeat and had CPR done for two and a half minutes before she was resuscitated. I looked at that doctor and said I told you something was wrong. The pediatrician said if I had waited even another half hour we would have lost her.
She’s eight now and perfectly healthy.
#9 Taking A Stand
I went to the hospital twice saying my water broke and both times the doctor said I was just having accidents. She was born 59 hours after it broke and wasn't breathing. They were able to suction out her lungs and get her going, but the doctor who saved her said she took a year off his life. She's 12 now and totally fine too. I'm glad I stuck up for myself.
#10 Women Know Best
My mom is a midwife. When my wife was pregnant, she was very clear that if my wife felt that ANYTHING was wrong, we needed to go to the hospital. We had to be very firm if something felt wrong, even if a doctor or nurse tried to dismiss it as nothing. She's seen what happens when medical professionals ignore pregnant women who KNOW when something does not feel right in their bodies.
#11 It Needs Ice
I used to work at Starbucks. A customer came in and ordered a drink (I forget which) without ice. I warned them that the drink would only be as cold as the ingredients were from sitting in the fridge and that the drink would be room temp within a few minutes. She said that was fine. I made the drink, handed it off, and what did the customer come back to the counter five minutes later and say? "My drink isn't cold."
#12 Squirrel Invasion
When I was young and still living with my parents, there were a lot of squirrels in our neighborhood. One morning, I was pulling weeds in the front yard when I heard the sounds of squirrels moving around - coming from the ceiling of the porch, just under our attic. I told my dad immediately, but he was absolutely sure that I was just hearing squirrels on the top of the roof and there was nothing to worry about. This happened a few more times over the summer but each time my parents said they couldn’t possibly in the attic.
Cut to several months later, during a peaceful Sunday morning breakfast, when what can only be described as a ball of loud, angry squirrels THUMPED down in between the walls of our kitchen. We listened to them trying to climb back up and squabbling with each other for hours until a pest control guy came and got them out, confirming that they had entered through a hole on the roof and set up a nest in the attic, which fell into the cavity between the walls. I’ve never felt so vindicated in my life. All squirrels were safely removed and relocated outside.
#13 Straight Up Neglect
My roommate had a cat for years, and when I moved in, her boyfriend had a dog. They got along swimmingly. They decided to get another dog they saw on Craigslist, and within two hours of finding the post, the dog was in our house. She was a border collie mix. The cat was then unseen for two weeks, hiding on the couch somehow.
On New Year's Eve, roomies were gone, and I heard growling from the kitchen. She had pinned the cat in the corner, about to attack, so I made the dog leave so the cat could escape. I told them of the incident, and that it wasn't a good idea for the new dog to be here. They ended up just making the cat live in a single room for six months while the new dog had free reign of the rest of the house.
One day, I got a call from my roomies, and apparently the cat tore through the window screen to get to the backyard. They came home and let the dogs out. Apparently, the cat put up a major fight, because the collie mix was covered in scratches, but the dog ultimately won. They found the poor kitty laying there lifeless in the backyard a few minutes later.
The boyfriend came up to me, and said, "You were right."
#14 Gas Station Food
I don't understand why anyone buys food from gas stations. When I was a kid, my parents got me a hot dog from a gas station at my persistence and despite their opposition. It didn't end well. I got a nasty upset stomach and ended up having an accident in front of a friend (who luckily was mostly cool about it). I had to spend the whole evening close to the bathroom. I haven't eaten anything cooked or perishable from a gas station since. Packaged candy or something, sure, fine, but no hot dogs, and for the love of God, I'd never touch egg salad from a gas station.
#15 Expired Soda
My mom is obsessed with soda, so one day she came home with some old unopened Coca Cola bottles from the Olympics some 20 odd years ago she got from a yard sale. I was like cool, decorations. No, she intended to drink them. I told her multiple times how horrible of an idea that was and to absolutely not do that, but she was convinced that Coca Cola can't go bad. Well, I came home and there was one missing. I asked where it went. She just kind of looked at me and muttered that I was right about not drinking it. I told you so was said many times that day.
#16 A Plea For Help
When my mom told me that my brother had been hospitalized for poor mental health. I had been trying for YEARS to get him health insurance and mental health care because we experienced childhood trauma. She never listened. Always said everything was fine; he was fine. Now he is 19 years old and struggles to keep a job. Struggles with addiction. Struggles with his mental health. I have been telling her for years to help him before he one day dies. Hopefully, his previous hospitalization will be a new leaf for change.
#17 $100 Poorer
My mom and I were driving out of state someplace when her car ('79 Bronco) started to hesitate and almost stall. I told her it was probably the fuel filter, but as far as she was concerned, I was a just teen who didn't know anything. So she pulled into some hick-garage, a guy gave her some story about it probably being a "blocked catalytic converter," he cleaned it out while we had to wait an hour or so, and he charged her $100+ bucks.
About an hour down the road... the same thing again.
She pulled into another place, and this time I spoke up about the fuel filter. The guy agreed that might be what it was. He popped off the air-cleaner, took off the fuel-filter going into the carb., then tried to blow into it like a whistle. Clogged. He grabbed a new one, put it on in like two minutes, charged something like $20, and we had no problems after that.
#18 Correct Suspicions
I started having issues with a Fiat Punto. Every so often, I'd try to accelerate and nothing would happen. The engine revved up but the car didn't speed up, almost as though it was in neutral. I told my wife that I thought there was a problem with the clutch and she called her ex-mechanic father. Over the course of a weekend, he replaced the battery, air filter, spark plugs, you name it but refused point-blank to believe it was the clutch. I ended up having to just deal with it for a couple of months until I could book the MOT service. The first thing the mechanic says: the clutch is so far beyond messed up. It's a miracle the car was even drivable.
#19 Foolish Love
The first time, my brother married a drinker, even though we all asked him several times if he was sure. (We didn't know she was a drinker, it was just that something wasn't right. He totally knew). The second time, he dated the woman for 9 months before getting married. "Are you sure? You haven't known her long..." Three months later, she wanted out... and kind of turned out to be a bit crazy.
#20 Oh, Burn
I warned my girlfriend that when drilling in concrete, the drillbit can get fairly warm. We were mounting a shelf and I had just finished a 6-mm hole with the impact drill. She responded with, "But, like, how warm?" while reaching for drillbit and immediately got a fairly severe burn. The only thing I got out before she went for the cold water was: "I just said..." When she came back, she reached for the drill and asked: "It's cold now right?" and then immediately burned herself again on the bit.
#21 Stuck On Holiday
Most recently? Telling my wife we needed to go back from holiday as there was the start of an outbreak here. We came into close contact, then got put into self-isolation. Our flights back got canceled and the country where we live in implemented a no non-nationals entry policy. I'm not a citizen. So, we're currently stuck on an extended holiday. Joy.
#22 Finally, Some Answers
I tried to tell my “mother” about a condition I had that was later diagnosed as a rare form of epilepsy. She waved it off as if she did with everything I told her. Fast forward to when I was 30 years old—I admitted myself to the hospital because I felt funny. I had a grand mal seizure in the ER and after testing and brain scans, lo and behold there WAS something there. I couldn’t help myself and told her I freaking knew I was right all these years. She mumbled an apology saying that she didn’t know how to help me back then. I was like, "You could’ve taken me to the doctors..."
#23 True Colors
This is from over a decade ago and I still feel satisfied thinking about it. There was a girl in my Girl Scout troop that was constantly bullying me, just not in front of our troopmates, so no one really believed me when I would tell people. Then we all went on a weekend trip to an amusement park and she threw a fit when she didn't get what she wanted. She started yelling at people how they ruined her trip and how she was the troop leader's daughter so she should be in charge. Eventually, she just cried for hours asking the other girls why they were being so mean. I laughed the entire time.
#24 I'm Going To Be Sick
In third grade, we were doing small group work when I suddenly felt sick to my stomach, which was very unusual for me. So, I got up, walked over to my teacher’s desk, and told her I thought I was going to throw up. She said, “You’ll be fine, sit back down.” I walked back to my little row of desks, turned to the right, and projectile vomited all over the girl next to me. I think I literally finished and said, “I TOLD YOU SO.” Also, sorry for yacking on you, Elaina from third grade.
#25 That's Unfair
A student complained several times that he felt unwell. The teacher just said, "Quiet now,' and threatened detention if the student didn't stop interrupting. Then, less than a minute later, the student vomited on the desk, all over his books and stuff. It smelled so horrible the class had to be canceled. He also got detention for it, as the teacher said he the student had vomited maliciously.
#26 A Hurl For A Hurl
A boy I went to primary school with threw up on my desk in the same way. The teacher told him he'll be fine. Then years and years later, we went to the same high school and coincidentally were sitting next to each other again when I threw up on his desk. He just laughed and said I must have been saving up that revenge for a long time. It was still embarrassing but his response made me feel a bit better.
#27 Oh, Tim...
I told my housemate the salmon he just bought from the shop smelt really bad and he shouldn't eat it. I got hurled abuse back at me saying, "I just bought it, there's nothing wrong with it." Queue being woken up in the early hours by said housemate vomiting his guts up with food poisoning. "I freaking told you, Tim!"
#28 Caught By The Fire
We were camping in a state park and it was after quiet hours. I kept telling my friends to keep their voices down or the rangers would come. Since we had drinks with us, the rangers coming to the campsite would be bad. Just as one of my friends was telling everyone how I was overreacting and that the rangers wouldn't come, park rangers walked up to our fire and started chastising us. I just laughed.
#29 Brace For It
I was 16 when I told my parents I wanted braces. Mom said, “You don’t need braces.” I went to the dentist, and the dentist told me I needed braces. Mom still said I didn’t need braces because it was just a dentist's way of just getting money out of us.
I'm 27 now and I went to the dentist for a regular appointment. He said, “Have you re-considered braces? You should really consider them—re-aligning your jaw will really help with your migraines and it’ll fix your overlapping teeth.” See mom. Freaking told you!
#30 Blind Genius
I told my mom I needed glasses pretty young, like seven or eight. She said I was just crying for attention. At 10, the teacher told my mom: "Your daughter is really smart, but did you know she can't see the board?" This, by the way, is one of the reasons I despise homeschooling. So many benefits to having an outsider look at your kids. And considering how many abusive or neglectful parents there are...
#31 Boyfriend Problems
I had a friend in high school whose boyfriend was a year older. I had gone to the same elementary school as him and had seen him be a trouble maker multiple times. I told her he would cheat on her. He did. I also told her that her taste in men was pretty bad. Her boyfriend in college got arrested for harassing people at a bus stop too. We don't talk much after I reminded her of that discussion.
#32 Bad Friend
My mother had a friend that nobody liked, but everyone felt bad for. She was literally a horrible person, and I hated her. I always warned my mom that she was gonna backstab us one day. They would have occasional arguments but always made up. She would talk bad about me in particular, behind my parents back. Once, my mom caught her but said nothing. Her kids were HUGE liars, and one day, my mom found out that they accused my younger brother (not even a teen) of asking their daughter for some pictures, if you know what I mean. I looked at my mother and said, "I told you so!" We don't talk to them anymore.
#33 You Got Played
A good friend of mine dated a guy who was in his early twenties when she was sixteen. I knew it wasn't a good idea, and I didn't have a good feeling, but she said it was fine. By the end of the relationship, she had tried to get him a job, which he didn't go for even though he said he really wanted the job. She had loaned him rent money and a bunch of other stuff. In the end, she finally dumped him and called him out for everything. Well, I bet you wish you listened to me now don't you?
#34 My Messy Sister
My sister. Every dude she brought home I could tell was a loser, and I always told her that. They'd act like losers, carry themselves like losers, talk like losers, you get the point. I'd always warn her. She said I was judging them. I needed to see their good side. Every dude had at least one kid with other women. She now has seven kids from five different men. I told her.
#35 Freaking Nancy
On Monday, in the second week of March, I went to my boss and said we needed to think about postponing our upcoming event because of a public health crisis. She wanted me to distribute flyers and start ramping up advertising. I said I thought it might be a waste of resources, and inappropriate considering large gatherings were starting to be banned.
She said, "No, it's in three weeks, this thing will all be cleared up by then." That Friday, they announced we were sheltering in place. We are still sheltering in place. I freaking told you so, Nancy.
#36 Bad Teacher
When I was in third grade, I begged my mom to switch my teacher. He was such a mean and negative person. She thought I was overreacting because I hadn’t had a male teacher until him. He got fired the next year for grabbing a girl and slamming her on a desk. I told my mom and she actually apologized for not believing me.
#37 Poor Decisions
I stood on my rooftop for a few hours under a bright sun. I told myself, "You better watch it, or else you'll faint." I went inside my house and while climbing down the stairs, my head spun and I fell down. My "told you so moment" happened with me. Oh, and also I told my sister to break up with her emotionally abusive ex. She didn't and it got out of hand. I hated to tell her " I freaking told you."
#38 A Big Catfish
My friend met a girl on Discord. She said she was Canadian and living in Canada. Then she said that she couldn’t go on a call with him because she was dumb. From the first day, I said that she was an old man stalking people. Some inconsistencies popped up in her story like suddenly she actually lived near us in France. Her age changed. Then, one day my friend told us that he found out she actually was a dude. I absolutely said I told you so.
#39 The No-Good New Girl
This girl joined our class in the ninth grade and I instantly could tell she was going to be trouble for me and my friends. There was literally a new argument every week, and they couldn’t deal with being exposed for lying about a ton of stuff. Three years later, all my friends came running back to me when they found out that she had plagiarised an entire song and then straight out lied, even though she physically could not argue with the facts and evidence. I literally just turned around to them and said exactly: “I freaking told you!”
#40 Lucky Guess?
Shortly after the 2016 election, the internet really started pushing Biden memes. Online moderators would appear out of nowhere and have select posts receive 50k votes while the rest was lucky to crack 100. All about Biden. It was very inorganic. So I figured he'd be who the Dems picked as their frontrunner in 2020. People didn't believe me but here we are.
#41 A Near Miss
We were in a robotics class and a guy (who showed up for the first time in weeks) needed to cut a piece of wood. Our chop saw is a little different than the typical ones, so I tried to help him cut the wood and show him how the saw worked. He was dead set on doing everything himself, so I left him alone. Five minutes later, there was a loud thud in the back of the classroom right where the chop saw was. Luckily he wasn't hurt, but he destroyed a really expensive chop saw and had to owe the school. Man, did I tell him so.
#42 Stuck Helplessly
A couple of months ago, my bed started breaking in the back corner, and my stepsister (who happened to be my best friend before our parents got married) would always fix it. Last month, it broke again, so we did the whole thing... except one of the two wooden panels broke in half. My mattress was moved to the floor so I could get a new bed. During this time, my sister decided that she would get under the other wooden panel just to mess around. I told her multiple times not to and I wouldn’t help her if something happened. She didn’t listen. The other panel broke on top of her and she was stuck.
#43 Messing Around
My friend decided to jump on top of the trunk as my other friend was driving away. I was in the passenger seat. I told him to get off before he got seriously injured. He didn’t listen and told my friend to start driving. My friend started driving between 5 to 10 mph, and my other friend decided to jump off. He did not land properly and fell to the ground head first. Needless to say, the ambulance came and he was taken to the ER where he received stitches.
#44 Not Fair At All
When I was a kid, the family went to Sonic to grab food to take home to eat. There are four of us and we each gave my dad the order. He said what we wanted into the speaker but the Sonic employee had only repeated three orders, leaving mine out. I told my dad they missed mine and he said: “Nah, you’ll get your food.”
Lo and behold, guess who didn’t get food? Me. Everyone decided to give me a little of their food so I had a meal but I’ll never forget the feeling of my family not listening to me.
#45 When Geese Attack
I have a friend named Gavin. One day, when we were in elementary school, some geese decided to go to our school playground. He, being the idiot he is, decided to run towards him. I told him they would attack him, but he did it anyway. And of course, they attacked him. He ended up in the nurse's office with quite a few bruises. That is a day I will never forget.
#46 No Bad Blood
I never felt like my ex valued what I said. Something was wrong with his Jeep, so we were researching what the problem could be. I looked at the manual and searched online to find it might be the ignition switch. To be fair, it may have cost us more money than necessary if we didn’t just send it to the shop. But it cost him $400 to get it fixed. I knew how petty it would be to say, “I told you,” especially since I hate that phrase with a passion. This moment taught me I need to give myself more credit. I hope my ex is happy and doing well, he deserves it.
#47 All Will Be Revealed
At my old work, I had a worker that was insanely difficult to work with and remarkably unproductive. It was part of the reason I left. My boss who was a friend didn't want me to go but I told him all about it. A year later, that worker got made redundant as he was hampering the business and being unproductive. When my mate told me about how they uncovered all this stuff he wasn't doing right, I let out a juicy "Yep, I told you so."
#48 Nothing's Impossible
About three years ago, my foster mom and foster dad took my little brothers and me to the ice skating rink. I said, “I am going to sit on the benches because I’m afraid I’ll fall and someone will run over my fingers and chop them off.” My foster mom said, “That‘s impossible. “
Anyway, fast forward 15 minutes later and a 12-year-old boy was rushed off of the ice with his hand wrapped in blood-soaked paper towels from the hot chocolate stand. Turns out, he tripped and his friend skated over his fingers and they were practically hanging on by a thread.
#49 Greedy Ambitions
My friend recently got into penny stocks and believed in a company so much he put $20K or more into it. It went parabolic and 10 to 15x its worth in a couple of weeks. I kept telling him to at least sell enough to recoup profit, but he didn’t listen and wanted to see 50x return. Well, it crashed hard and his portfolio dropped down to 25% of its height in three days. He finally pulled some money out but laments the fact that it’s only a fraction of what he could have made.
#50 Told You So
This girl I used to be friends with at school was going out with this guy. He started flirting and trying to make moves on me. I thought I'd be honest and tell her what he was doing, but obviously he denied it and she ended up telling whatever nonsense about me to other people, trying to taint my name red. Eventually, after that, I kicked that guy hard right in the shin. He still did his antics on a few occasions after, but I ignored him. Time went by in college, and she ended up messaging me about him—how he'd been unfaithful and how I was right.