Karen Admits I'm Not Our Daughter's Father! - Reddit Stories

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2:18Which isn't unusual for us these days. We've been on the verge of divorce multiple times, but always in up-changing our minds. This time, she got so mad that she yelled at the top of her lungs. She's not even your daughter, and he was a better hookup too. She being our daughter, of course. My wife's facial expression told me immediately that she had realized what she had said. Then she claimed she was just mad, and said it just to be mean. It's not true. Blah blah blah. It made me start to think about when our daughter was conceived. She had been having marital problems, even back then. We had actually kind of informally separated for a short time, and I was pretty sure I was done with the whole thing, but we both changed our minds. I can't help but wonder if she was with somebody else during that time. She could have just said what she said to be cruel, but that's a pretty serious thing to say. I'm looking at my daughter, and wondering if features I thought she got from me really aren't from me at all. She looks so much like my wife that it's hard to see much of anyone else in her at all anyway. I love my daughter. I love being a dad, her dad.

3:20I feel like I was meant to do it. We have such a great relationship. She loves her mom, but my daughter and I just have a special bond that my wife has said that she's jealous of. That may be why she said what she did. I don't know. It wouldn't change how I felt about my daughter, but my wife would definitely no longer be my wife. It scares me to even think that somebody else could have some sort of parental right to my kid, even though I'm still legally her father, regardless of DNA. It's not like our random guy is going to want to come along all these years later and try to establish paternity anyway, but it's still unsettling. I'm probably overthinking it, and my wife was most likely just trying to be extra cruel, which is her defense mechanism and arguments, but I just wish that I could stop thinking about it. True or false, I would not want to stay with a person who said that. She opened that door. Do the DNA test. You're avoiding the DNA test because you don't want to feel more crappy than you already do. The percentage of kids born from their mom's cheating is actually extraordinarily high. I feel bad for you, man, but this sort of thing is incredibly common.

4:22The number of guys out there raising other men's children without even knowing is just insane. You've become a statistic, and I hope you learn from this. You shouldn't have stayed with her if she was problematic from the jump. Well, what do you think? Should OP get a DNA test or not? Please let us know. I don't care how evil someone is. And something like that, dude, there's a reason she said it. My boyfriend's mother keeps putting an ingredient that I'm allergic to in her dishes, with updates. This has been somewhat of a nightmare, so any advice would be amazing. My boyfriend is also 23 for clarity. I have a garlic allergy. It's not lethal, and I definitely wouldn't get anaphylaxis or something from it. The problem is that I get asthma if I eat it, and I'll really mess up my digestion later. Everyone in my life knows that I can't have garlic, and I won't have garlic. It makes eating out a nightmare because of how prevalent it is. So usually my boyfriend and I have date nights at our apartment, and we cook for each other. But my boyfriend's mom has a family tradition, and she insists we all come to dinner at least once a month.

5:24She's a fantastic cook, and usually a really nice lady to be around, but there's one problem. She wants me to come every time, but she always adds garlic to every dish. At this point, I've just started taking an inhaler and just eating the Hawaiian rules that she always serves. My boyfriend drives us, and we just go get fast food right after. We've talked to her over and over about the garlic. I've asked her over and over to please not use garlic, and she says she doesn't understand how it's such a big deal, because it's not like you'll die. I've tried skipping the meals, but she throws a fit and drags her entire family into it. I've been with my boyfriend for three years now, and I'm best friends with his sister. I'm at my wit's end. How do I get this through to her? Edit. I brought my own food before, usually something like simple mac and cheese. I did it twice, but both times she was angry and basically made for an incredibly unhappy evening. Update. To those of you who said she just didn't like me, you were 100% correct. After my boyfriend woke up yesterday, we had a long talk about how bothersome his mother's

6:24refusal to take out garlic is. He agreed that we should skip the dinner until she takes it out. Something about it still bothered me, so I ended up calling her and just bluntly asking her. She kept evading the question, saying she's just a garlic lover, that she doesn't understand what the big deal is, etc. Finally, after like 30 minutes of back and forth, she finally admitted that she just doesn't like me. I think I'm correct in drawing the conclusion that she was trying to drive me away from her family with garlic shenanigans, but maybe I'm just overthinking. I don't know. Anyways, I asked if it was because of my job. I'm a receptionist, my age, background, whatever. And she just flat out told me that she doesn't like that I have my septum and my tongue done, and that I color my hair unnatural colors. She thinks it's unprofessional and proves that I'm too much of a wild child to date her son, which sucks because I really like this woman, but I guess she was just polite out of courtesy rather than actually liking me herself. After I ended the call, I went to go find my boyfriend and he basically fessed up and said that yeah, his mother was not a fan and kept basically hinting that we should break

7:27off. Mostly by mentioning stuff like, my friend Jenny has such a cute daughter and that sort of thing, which really hurts, but I'm glad I know now. Anyways, my boyfriend and his sister have both agreed to just start up a group dinner once a month. I'm going to stop going to the dinners and my boyfriend will just go without me. Update. I broke up with him and basically spent the day fielding text from him asking what was going on and why I was freaking out over his mom. As I said in the update, I got the ick. The more I thought about how he didn't defend me to his mother, refused to tell me about her underhanded tactics, the more I just didn't like him anymore. It was like a switch flipped. So when he woke up, he got a call from me saying this wouldn't work out. We had a long conversation that basically turned into him being defensive. In the end, I was firm. I also sent a text to his sister along the lines of, if you've got questions, ask your brother. Before I blocked her, of course, too. It's kind of crappy that I lost my best friend and my boyfriend, but on the bright side, at least it wasn't cheating and they just suck.

8:27Thank you everyone for the advice and hopefully I find a better man with a better family. Honestly, this is one of those situations in which you would be justified to leave. Your boyfriend could have told you that she didn't like you. He could have told you he suspected she was doing it on purpose. My boyfriend would never have me at his parents' home for food if they did something like this. They wouldn't. They're lovely people and know that I can't eat certain foods. Your boyfriend has done absolutely nothing to protect you from this behavior. You can do better. So your boyfriend knew his mother didn't like you, but kept deliberately putting you in a position where your health could be impacted? Why would you stay with such a spineless mummies boy who won't stand up for you? You can't avoid his mother forever, kudos for having the guts to call her out though. That was brave. I know you don't want to hear this and I'll get downvoted for this, but this is far from the last person who will judge you and dislike you based on your septum and tongue piercings. Those modifications are seen as radical and extremely unappealing by the majority. Lovely people older than you. It's a choice you made and the consequences are people judging you based on your looks.

9:32She thinks that you're a vampire and she's using garlic to repel you, with partial success. Am I the jerk for telling my pregnant sister that her husband can't sleep at my house and in turn kicking her out too? I'm 30 female. My pregnant sister who's 34 and her husband who's 42, planned two week in trips to visit me on the west coast, also as a pit stop to get to and from Hawaii. My sister Jane is pregnant and this trip is their baby moon. Jane's husband is Charles and my husband is Victor. Background I don't like how Charles speaks to Jane in general. He often argues and raises his voice throughout the day about trivial things. I've talked to Jane about his behavior before and she's told me, I realize how he sounds when he talks to people. We fight about it all the time and I think he just needs anger management. It always ends with her apologizing or making excuses. Weekend 1 The entire time we spent with Charles was quite exhausting and miserable for me. He argued with my sister multiple times. When Victor speaks, I can see Charles rolling his eyes, nudging Jane's elbow and whispering

10:34snide remarks to her. He seems to think these all go unnoticed by us. He usually talks down to me, cuts me off and enjoys flaunting his knowledge. My brother, mom and some cousins also find him a difficult person to be around. Charles and Jane leave my house and the next day I'm overwhelmed by this stress and how uncomfortable Charles always makes me feel. Victor finds me crying and thinks they should not come back to sleep in our home because it's so stressful for me. But agrees, we should still hang out with them out of our house. Teleredic here from 2311 Racing. Game night's fun until someone spends five minutes lining up one shot. Chalk, breathe, re-chalk, still aiming. While they figure it out, I fire up Champa Casino. I can spin anywhere, anytime and there's always a new social casino game every week. This happens way faster than that shot. Play now at chumbacacino.com. Let's chumbac. Sponsored by Chumbacacino, no purchase necessary. VGW Group Fortware prohibited by law, 21 plus terms and conditions apply. I've got Dan Morgan here on the pod.

11:37Say hi, Dan. Hey, how's it going today? It's going good, man. Tell us who you are and what you do. I'm Dan Morgan. I'm an attorney and a managing partner at Morgan & Morgan, which is America's largest injury law firm. That's pretty awesome. I think I saw Billboard years recently that said 20 billion won. 20 billion is insane number. Yeah, 20 billion recovered. It's actually, I think, somewhere north, probably closer to 22, 23 after this year. And each year we get bigger and better and our army grows. So the number will hopefully keep getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. Awesome. So how does someone get in contact with Morgan & Morgan? What would I do if I got into an accident? Probably the easiest way is dialing pound law. It's pound 529 from your cell phone. We are always open. Our call center is always waiting to take your call. 24-7-365. Wow. Dan Morgan, from Morgan & Morgan & America's largest injury law firm, thanks for coming by the show. Thanks for having me. Visit forthepeople.com for an office near you. I cried about it because I don't want to put my sister in a difficult situation, especially

12:38with her being pregnant and trying to enjoy a vacation. I end up telling Jane how I feel. Charles is rude and disrespectful to me, you, and Victor. I still want to spend time with you while you're in town, but I need separate time to decompress after being with Charles. I love you, but this is the boundary I need to set for this dynamic to work. She cries and says if she doesn't sleep here, she will need a break from me. I apologize to her and emphasize this is about needing a break from Charles, not Jane, both during a phone call and text. Charles calls me and it goes terribly. He talks over me, tells me he's disappointed because I'm not supporting my sister's pregnancy by not allowing him to sleep at my place. Jane is bringing life into this world. Our feelings aren't what matter. Jane is what matters right now. If we don't sleep there, we won't be seeing you. Week in two starts today, I haven't heard from Jane. Am I the jerk? Not the jerk, but I do think you could have done things differently. From the way you worded it here, it does sound like you may have uninvited her. I might have said explicitly, you're welcome to stay here, but Charles is not.

13:42There's certainly no requirement, but given that this return stay was already planned, he might have considered allowing them to stay this time with some stipulations on Charles' behavior. This is a crappy situation since you obviously don't want to harm your relationship with your sister, but you shouldn't have to deal with her jerk husband either. Opie. Sorry, there was a character limit, but I did tell my sister over the phone that she was welcome to stay and I just needed a break from Charles to decompress at home at the end of the day. She told me she doesn't want to sleep separately from him, which is understandable. Although there was a lot set on the phone with Charles, where he basically implies, this is just who I am. Seriously, why isn't anyone calling him out on his behavior? Charles, we can see and hear you, you're being rude. I was talking, please don't interrupt me. Do not talk to me in that way, it's rude. He does this because everyone lets him. Not the jerk, but this outcome is not surprising. Very few married people would be willing to sleep apart from their spouse on vacation, especially in entirely different places. Even less when one party is nearing the end of a pregnancy, spouses like to share accommodations

14:45and anytime you're trying to split a married couple up in terms of sleeping arrangements, there's always a very good chance they will both decide to make alternate arrangements elsewhere so that they can stay together. You're not a jerk for setting boundaries with your sister's crappy husband, but married couples often see themselves as a unit and they may not allow you to set boundaries with only one of them while keeping the other in your life. That's your sister's choice, she's siding with her husband. She's not going to stay where he's not welcome, she's not going to hang out with people who are on bad terms with him, and it's her right to draw her own boundary with people who do not welcome her husband, as misguided as we might think that is. Hopefully in the future she will relent, but if she holds firm, you may need to decide how much Charles you are willing to tolerate to have your sister in your life. Not the jerk, but oh look, another story of a woman who settled down with a guy who treats her like crap. I used to think that one day they would finally wake up and stop picking the jerks to be with, but then I come back to my senses and realize that will never happen. Many stop friend-zoning the guys who are actually kind and respectful, crazy idea I know.

15:47Edit, call me a nice guy all you want, sure I totally wear fedoras, fingerless gloves, and spend my days playing video games in my mom's basement. There's no way in heck I own a luxury apartment and have worked in commercial banking for the last eight years. Not everyone who has a different opinion than you reddit freaks is some basement dweller as you'd like to believe. My husband uses the same mop water for weeks and refuses to stop. My husband only has a few household tasks. One of them that he took on is mopping the floors. He has a bucket full of mop water, maybe three gallons, but he will use to mop. He puts two or three cups of pine salt in the bucket and then fills it up. When he's finished mopping, he will put the mop inside the bucket and put the bucket on the porch. He uses the water until I throw it away. The water is often black when I throw it out. He will use the same water to mop up messes. If the dog pees on the floor, he mops it up and then puts the bucket of water back on the porch. This is a major source of contention between us because I think it's incredibly gross.

16:48We've gotten into screaming arguments when he has caught me throwing out the mop water. He says the water is fine because the pine salt sterilizes it and that he worked as a janitor before and he's insulted that I think he doesn't know how to clean the floor. I cleaned a whole school for years and you think I don't know how to clean a regular floor? I've offered to do it myself but he sees it as an insult to his abilities. Today I stepped into the kitchen and noticed that the entire floor filled grimy and sticky. He was sitting at the table and told me, The dog peed so I thought I'd just do the whole floor. I asked him if he bothered to change out the black water he's been using and he said no. This of course started a fight. I told him that he had made the floors filthy and that I, three months pregnant, didn't want to expose myself to whatever diseases are growing in that water. I would be doing all the mopping from now on with Bona because we have hardwood floors. He told me he might as well not be in the house because clearly I don't respect any of his choices. He got his keys, got in the car and drove off.

17:49He was gone for hours, came back and isn't talking to me. I feel like I'm going crazy. Is the pine salt actually sufficient? Am I making something huge out of nothing? How am I supposed to fix this when I feel like I've tried to and it just hasn't worked? I worked in food service for nine years and we had to change the mop water every single day. No exceptions. Just mop 10 minutes ago and had a spill? Get that sanitizer water running and get a fresh mop. This is absolutely not okay. It's gross and unhealthy and if an apathetic teenager and a crappy fast food joint can do better, then so can your husband. Nope, eventually the bacteria takes over, putting it outside makes it worse. Honestly, I toss out the bucket and mop and buy a spray mop with pads. If he goes into a tirade, then it's time to rethink this relationship. And there's going to be a baby crawling around on that nasty floor soon. All this walking on eggshells and going around him to do extra work, all to avoid triggering a tantrum? I can't imagine trying to raise a kid with this dude.

18:50He's going to make it ten times harder for her than doing it alone. I mean, it's basically toilet water if you mop up pee and then just store it to spread it around on the floor later. This is not sanitary and you are not wrong. Why does he want to save a bucket of dirty water? Also two to three cups of pine salt? When you have a significant other who refuses to do cleaning the right way, it's a huge red flag. It shows that they are unwilling to do what is right. It shows they are stubborn and stuck in their ways. I'm sure he's the type of guy to make excuses when you look it up on Google and show him that what he's doing is wrong. Ah, they don't know what they're talking about. I've always done it this way. Sorry lady, but your husband is an absolute idiot and I hope you find someone with a few brain cells. Am I the jerk for refusing to let my wife wake our daughter up to see a bear? My wife, my kids, who are twelve, ten, eight, six and four and I just spent three weeks at our cabin while we got some repairs done on our house. Our ten year old Rose has leukemia.

19:50A lot of the activities around the cabin are outdoors and Rose doesn't usually have the energy for that, so one of her favorite activities has been watching the wildlife from this big window seat in the master bedroom and taking pictures of what she sees. Her goal since she started doing this was to see a bear. There are some in the area, but it's not too common to see one. She has me take her up to the window seat after dinner and usually falls asleep watching for bears. Towards the end of the three weeks, I had to take her to the hospital for chemo, three and a half hours each way. That night she fell asleep in the window seat again and when I got up to carry her to bed, there were two bears close to our cabin. I called my wife over to see and I took a picture on Rose's iPad, but my wife wanted to wake Rose up so she could see. She hadn't gotten to see a bear this trip. I told my wife she needs to rest and that showing her the picture would be enough, but my wife still tried to wake her up. I stopped her again and got Rose in bed. The next morning I told Rose that there were bears last night and I showed her the pictures. She asked if I woke her up. I said yes because I didn't want her to get upset, but my wife told Rose that I wouldn't

20:53let anybody wake her up. We did not see any more bears for the rest of the trip and Rose has been devastated. She refused to speak to me and deleted the pictures I took for her because apparently it doesn't count. My wife was even talking about taking Rose back to the cabin for a week to try to see a bear. I don't think it's a big deal, but my wife and Rose are still upset with me so I wanted to know if I was the jerk. My wife takes her to the zoo at least once a week. It's there for nearly every special event, including the first day they brought the bear cubs out. Update My wife, my father-in-law, and Rosie have been at the cabin for four days now. I ordered stuffed animals, window decals, art sets, a kiddie telescope and binoculars. Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing, another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chamba. Jump in at chambacasino.com. Let's Chamba. Don't purchase necessary. I've got Dan Morgan here on the pod. Say hi, Dan.

21:53Hey. How's it going today? It's going good, man. Tell us who you are and what you do. I'm Dan Morgan. I'm an attorney and a managing partner at Morgan Morgan, which is America's largest injury law firm. That's pretty awesome. I think I saw Billboard years recently that said $20 billion, $20 billion is an insane number. At $20 billion, it's actually, I think, somewhere north probably closer to $22, $23 after this year. And each year we get bigger and better and our army grows, so the number will hopefully keep getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. Awesome. So how does someone do in contact with Morgan and Morgan? What would I do if I got into an accident? Probably the easiest way is dialing pound law. It's pound 529 from your cell phone. We are always open. Our call center is always waiting to take your call. 247-365. Wow. Dan Morgan from Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, thanks for coming by the show. Thanks for having me. Visit forthepeople.com for an office near you. The camera and a couple of chairs for her to sit outside. My wife, father-in-law, and Rosie were able to go out a lot more than when we were there

22:55with the family and they were even able to visit a national park in the area. Between Rosie's new gear, the trips to the national park and staying up late bear watching every night, she saw bears on more than one occasion. She's feeling much better and they're coming home on Monday. Well, why didn't you go with her? I have to work and we have four other kids. If I would have gone with her, my wife would have had to stay home. She actually managed to see them three times, once at the national park and twice from her window. My wife faced time to me so I could see her reaction and it was adorable. I have a few more surprises waiting for her at home. My fiance told me to choose between her and my mom. My mom turned 60 this year and she's not going to live five years longer. Twelve years ago, she had a stroke that left her half-side paralyzed. She still lives alone and takes care of herself completely by herself. She's very resilient and I'm incredibly proud of her. But I know that her chances of living another five years are very low. My fiance got, surprisingly, a promotion in the dream job she always wanted.

23:56Saying it's a gigantic opportunity would be saying that a Ferrari is just a car. It's at once in a lifetime chance. It will change her life forever. It will fulfill everything she wanted. It will make her rich. It also involves her moving countries, thousands of kilometers away. There is no way she won't accept it and I wouldn't want her to. The moment she told me about it, I knew it was over. She asked me to come with her. I didn't even need to think about it and I said no. It broke me apart and it broke her apart and I feel nothing and simultaneously just pain. My mother has five years left at best, then she will pass and just never be in my life again. For the rest of my existence until oblivion, also it swallows me up. I will just never get to meet her again, hear her living voice again. She will be gone forever, just gone. The clock is ticking for her every day a bit louder and I cannot, simply cannot move away from her and see her only once a year anymore. How could I accept that only seeing her five times before she stops existing? I cannot. Period.

24:57This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but it wasn't a hard choice at all. I hope your fiance truly gets why you made this choice, not that it makes it easier, but it's better that way for sure. Is there any way you can do long distance for a few years? At least try it. Why not take your mom with you? Let her see some more of the world before she goes. Today I learned that reservations are old school. I'm a night auditor in a college town in its move-in week. That means we've been at 100% all week and are set to be over the weekend as well. 90% of the hotels are families moving their college kids in. The other 10% are regulars or business travelers smart enough to book way ahead. Two gentlemen walk in at around 2.30am. The first gentleman asks for a two-bed room and asks how much it will cost. I ask if he has a reservation and he goes, no, I didn't know I needed one. I apologized for the inconvenience and told him we're fully booked. He dejectedly moves away from the desk and the other gentleman behind him comes up, who had two reservations he made three months prior.

25:57As I'd checked that gentleman in, the first guy's wife comes in. I can overhear them arguing. She's asking him why he didn't insist and he tells her. She said they're fully booked, whatever that means. She rolls her eyes at him. When the guest leaves, she comes to the desk. Hey, we need a room. I tell her we're sold out tonight. Sorry, unless you have a standing reservation, I can't help you. Reservations, you guys still do those? That's old school. I must have made a face because she looks instantly offended. You seriously can't be telling me that we need to make reservations still. Can't I just check into a room? I need to go online and jump through hoops first. I reiterate, all of our rooms are sold and occupied. Walk-ins aren't unusual, no. But again, there are no vacancies. She wouldn't be able to make a reservation online because there is no space to put her. Why is it so busy? She asks. I tell her it's move-in week for the local college. She goes, That's what we're here for. I'm moving my son in.

26:58Can she look surprised? Well, you don't say. Then she says, Well, why did that other guy get two rooms? He walked in after us. I had to explain to her that he had reserved those rooms three months ago. That's not fair. We were here first. There should be a system for calling ahead and having you hold the room for us, because this is ridiculous. Karen stops me mid workout and demands to use the squat rack. This is becoming more and more common at the surrounding gyms, which is really annoying, and a reason I've changed gyms more than once this year alone. Working out is a pillar of my everyday life, and it has been for the past 10 years, and I'm at the gym every day of the week. Now, I don't go to the gym to talk to people, make friends, or make funny videos. I go to train and go home. However, now with the new video trends, many folks want to record their exercises to post on social media. This is their business and not mine. They can do whatever they want, but I also don't think I need to stop doing my own workout to accommodate them.

28:00Last night, I was doing squats on the Smith machine. I work out with headphones, and I didn't notice that someone was trying to get my attention. I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder, mid squat, and only then I noticed a woman with a very annoyed expression. She barely allowed me to finish the movement to start talking, which was muffled due to headphones. Long story short, she was annoyed because I was training on the Smith machine, and she wanted to record herself doing regular squats. However, she said the best spot was in front of that Smith machine. There's more than one, and she didn't want me on the frame, so she wanted me to stop my series for her to record. Now, usually if someone comes to me with a good attitude, and asks if it's okay for me to stop for a series or two for them to record, or even move machines, I would absolutely not mind and comply. This lady did nothing of this sort, being extremely arrogant, and honestly, extremely annoying. So I was petty, and I told her to record once I was done, and I proceeded to do every single exercise I could on the same Smith machine.

29:01Squats, Smith, hip thrust, Smith. It was petty, and I know I shouldn't have done it, but I felt very vindicated seeing her annoying expression. That being said, a few people said I was a jerk for doing that, as there were other machines I could have used. Honestly, they might be right. But hey, I thought I'd ask the internet. Was I too much of a jerk here? Not the jerk. First off, who interrupts someone mid-squat? A lot of gyms have a no-recording policy where I live. In my last gym, these people just got reported to the fitness manager. Not the jerk. For all those people trying to film themselves in a public place, get over yourselves. We don't care about your 1,327 followers seeing your gains. Stop disrupting public space with your ego. Well, what would you have done in this situation? Would you have gone ahead and moved for her or not? Please let us know. I would have started coughing all over her. It's one of the quickest ways to get people to stop messing with you, especially these days. Boss did me wrong, so I put him out of business.

30:03This happened 12 years ago, and I'm still reaping my rewards. I worked for the company. They did three-phase photography of families and their kids. No wedding events or anything like that. Straight studio work that was in a portable setting. Sitting's booked for 10 minutes, and we were supposed to shoot 30-50 a day. Yes, it is as rigid of a job as it sounds. It was fast, high energy, and at times simply brutal. One, pre-seller. They come in 2-3 weeks in advance and sell a special 10-by-13 portrait and book the appointment. Two, the photographer. That's me in this instance. Comes in for about a week and takes the pictures. Three, the salesperson returns two weeks later with the special, along with the other six poses I took, and tries to sell you $400 worth of pictures. I was very good at what I did. The company sales average was $100 per customer per 50 customers. The more you shoot, the lower your quality, because you spend less time taking care of details, and details sell pictures.

31:03My average was 175-ish per 150-200 customers. I was making this company a lot of money, and they consistently treated me like crap. Oh, the stories. Their business model was shoot as many sittings as you can, as fast as you can. To them, shooting 50 with a $100 average was better than shooting 35 with a $150 average, even though the profit margin was exactly the same. I never agreed with that, and Boss and I went around and around about it every week. They withheld raises because I didn't have enough sittings, and took my bonuses because I wasn't meeting their quotas. So I figured out how to be fast, efficient, and darn good. That's another post. So that's the background. It is Ryan C. Crest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumbacaceno.com. It's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumbacaceno has over 100 online casino-style games all absolutely free.

32:04It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now at chumbacaceno.com. Sponsored by Chumbacaceno. I've got Dan Morgan here on the pod. Say hi, Dan. Hey, how's it going today? It's going good, man. Tell us who you are and what you do. I'm Dan Morgan. I'm an attorney and a managing partner at Morgan Morgan, which is America's largest injury law firm. That's pretty awesome. I think I saw Billboard years recently that said that 20 billion won. 20 billion is insane number. Yeah, 20 billion recovered. It's actually, I think, somewhere north probably closer to 22, 23 after this year. And each year we get bigger and better and our army grows. So the number will hopefully keep getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. Awesome. So how does someone do in contact with Morgan and Morgan? What would I do if I got into an accident? Probably the easiest way is dialing pound law. It's pound 529 from your cell phone. We are always open. Our call center is always waiting to take your call.

33:0624, 7, 365. Wow, Dan Morgan. From Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm. Thanks for coming by the show. Thanks for having me. Visit forthepeople.com for an office near you. Now the good stuff. Enter the jerk. The jerk is a pre-seller who lied to the customers, lied to the store, and would book appointments from 9 a.m. to 830 p.m. Even though the studio hours were 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. He told every lie in the book, and I think he even added a few of his own. Want to bring your dog? Family of 15? Sure. Bring five change of clothes, and we'll even have her do your makeup. I don't even do my own makeup. Come and get your picture taken, and we will throw in a free toaster. And just to make it interesting, he would triple and quadruple book appointments, and when he ran out of those, he would sell open appointments, and tell people to just come in any time, and my photographer will work with you. Ugh. Just writing that makes me mad, even after all these years. The biggest problem is he would wave the sitting fee, or just not tell them.

34:07I was obligated to collect that $8. Every time I didn't, it came out of my check. It was a nightmare. I refused to work behind the jerk for these, and one thousand other reasons. I told Boss that if they ever put me behind the jerk again, I would quit, which is exactly what happened. They knew he had been working at the store I was assigned, and they lied about it. I immediately called Boss, and told him this was my last week, and that he needed to make arrangements to get the photography equipment at the end of the shoot. I should have walked out, but I was young and dumb. It was a three day shoot, and I did 316 customers by myself. That is an insane amount of sittings, and nobody was happy. Every night, the store manager had to tell my customers to leave, because the store was closed. People were lined up at 9 a.m. waiting for me. I took so much mistreatment that week. After a customer threw a shoe at me, and another spit on my pizza, the store security guard brought a chair over and stayed with me almost the entire time I was there. I honestly cannot remember how many people were escorted out of the store,

35:10because they acted a fool in my studio. It's been over a decade, and I still have nightmares about that week. But nobody came to get the equipment, so I start making phone calls, and plotting. Me, hey, what do you want me to do with your equipment? Boss, you're going to need it next week in Florida. Me, no, because I quit. Boss, you didn't give me any notice, so I'm not accepting your resignation. I'm sending you to Florida next week. Me, I'm an independent contractor. Remember, you can't make me go to Florida. This is not complicated, I quit. Boss, just go to Florida. I don't have time for this now. You can quit in three weeks if you can hire a replacement. And he hangs up. Nope, not going to Florida. I packed the equipment and took it home with me. The camera was a brand new Canon T2i 550D, and those were pricey back in 2010. I really didn't want to give it back, but it wasn't mine to keep. I had an idea. Boss was an absolute train wreck of a human.

36:10If he didn't want to do something, he wouldn't. If he could find someone else to do it, he would. I decided to use his own worst traits against him, avoidance and procrastination. The next thing I did was take the company credit card, and go to the nearest storage unit with climate control. I rented a unit and paid for the first month, but just one. I unloaded it all, down to the last halogen light bulb. I took detailed pictures of everything and an inventory. I locked the door and walked away. At this point, there was nothing I could do but wait, and hope Boss would continue to be the worthless wreck I knew him to be. Next, I called and reported the card stolen. Why? Because I knew if I didn't, that card would remain active, and rent would be paid every month on time. And that just wasn't going to work for me. I cut it in half and sent it, and the combination to the storage locker to Boss via FedEx, along with a hand-painted sign that said, I quit. I also sent an email to HR, telling them that I was terminating my contract, and that Boss had the information and the equipment.

37:12This is probably the only sketchy thing I did. The person I emailed was out on medical leave, and I knew it. I could have sent that email to a dozen other people who worked there, but they might have paid attention to it. By the time she got back to the office, she had so many emails she couldn't even begin to tackle them all. A month goes by, and the police knock on my door. Okay, so I wasn't expecting that. The company has reported the equipment stolen, and the police are there to investigate. I really thought I was going to jail. The cop that knocked on the door was fully expecting to take me away in handcuffs until I explained what was going on. I ended up taking copies of the emails to the police department, as well as my copy of the contract with the storage unit. I also had a copy of the shipping label. Both my name and the company were listed on the contract. I had to make an official statement and jump through some hoops. The company had placed a monetary value of $12,000 on the studio rig, so potentially I was in a lot of trouble, except I covered myself. The police told me I was in the clear,

38:13because the storage unit had their name on the contract. Their credit card was used to pay for it, and I had sent the combination and all the pertinent information to the company. I am very good at covering yourself with paper. At this point, I figure the gig is up, because surely they're going to come to get this rig or send someone or something. Nope, boss is still worthless. Two more months go by. I get a call from the storage facility. They're about to cut the lock and auction the contents. I was so excited. I called boss again. A dodge my calls and ignored my emails. It's a please call me immediately. I never specifically stated what I wanted to talk to him about, and just like I was hoping he would, he ignored me. Okie dokie, I have done all that I can, and that's when it all started to come together. And then I hit a pretty good snag, but it actually worked out better in the end. In this state, if a storage unit goes up for sale, the owner cannot purchase it at auction. I didn't know that. But where there is a will, there is a way. They sent letters and called three more times,

39:14and then the date was set. The unit went up for auction on my birthday. My neighbor went to the sale. He bought the unit for $125. I couldn't believe it. And of course, we were in cahoots on this, but we had to make it look like we weren't. The grip on the camera mounts cost more than that. Not to mention the lighting, props, and costumes, and of course, the camera. My neighbor then put an ad in the local newspaper for photography stuff, $1,000 firm, but didn't list anything specific. And oops, put the wrong number in the ad. A week later, he wanted it out of his garage, so he sold it to me for $126. He has a bill of sale from the auction. I have a bill of sale from him. It's now mine, and there's nothing the company can do about it. But they tried. I now have a fully functional photography studio. All the contacts I need to start my own business and the skills to do it. I started calling all the stores I had worked for for the last eight years and offered them a much better deal than what the company was giving them.

40:14I did my own pre-selling, my own photography, and my own sales, except I took it a step farther. I bought a monitor and computer and let people preview their pictures and order the day of the shoot. They paid in full, and I mailed the pictures directly to them. People loved it. No high-pressure sales, no tricks. My customers were happy and so were my stores. About six months after my first independent shoot, I hear from the company. I got several nasty letters from them, which I ignored. Word had gotten back to them that I was using their equipment and that I was working for someone else. I just laughed at them. They thought so little of me that it never occurred to them that it was my business. Then I got a nasty legal letter from a lawyer. It started with cease and desist. Rolled into me violating the non-competitors agreement and ended with the return of their stolen property. They had apparently not told him all of the facts. I sent him copies of everything. I waited a few weeks for a response from him and heard nothing. I finally called to find out what was going on,

41:15but no one was available to take my call. How convenient. A few days later, I got a certified letter in the mail saying, no other legal action will be forthcoming from this office. I would have been content to just let it slide, but this whole thing ticked me off, and now I wanted revenge. I made a real effort to really get them. Little by little, I built my business and my reputation. I didn't have to do any of the nasty tricks that the jerk did. Within a year, I had stores and schools calling me. I had more work than I could handle on my own, so I took on a second photographer and a third. I actually hired four people out from under their noses. At the height of my business, I had eight additional photographers and a full-time office assistant. I could have grown much larger, and in hindsight, I'm so glad I didn't. Digital photography was a huge boom to the industry, and then it backfired. I found my niche in the market just as it exploded. I ran the company completely out of three states. They lost all of their chain contracts to me,

42:15including the store where it all started. The jerk lost all of his stores and ended up working at a gas station. The boss ended up demoted because his district was dissolved when I snipe the contracts. The jerk actually tried to convince one of my photographers to hire him to do a pre-selling for her. By now, my name and my business name had a really good reputation. Boss left the company for good and used me as a personal reference. He was a good photographer, just a rotten manager. And I took great joy in telling the people who called me that I was legally not allowed to tell them what I thought of the man. The age of the cell phone camera pretty much destroyed traditional photography, and I closed my doors as a business in late 2017. The company closed for good in 2016, and I would like to think I had a hand in that. I'm still standing, and they are nothing but an empty building. I still have the original rig, but the camera has been replaced several times. I do senior pictures and the occasional venue shoot. Most of my photography is for restaurant menus now.

43:16People ask me if that's boring. I've never had a meatball, scream, cry, or kick me, which is pretty much a daily occurrence when you work with kids. This may not be as epic as some on here, but I beat them at their own game, and that still feels pretty darn good. Do this next. Tap here on your screen to come see our new podcast playlist, where you'll find thousands of hours of the best stories you've ever heard. Or tap the one on the right. That episode is specifically just for you, based on other videos you've enjoyed the most. Flexibility is great. That's why there's yoga. Flexibility for your insurance coverage is great too. That's why there's United Healthcare Insurance plans. Underwritten by Golden Roll Insurance Company, United Healthcare Insurance plans offer flexible budget-friendly coverage for medical, vision, dental, and more. One of these plans may be right for you, if you're say, between jobs, coming off your parents' plan, turning a side hustle into a full hustle, or even missed open enrollment. Want more flexibility? Find out more about United Healthcare Insurance plans at UH1.com.

44:16Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing. Another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chamba. Jump in at ChambaCasino.com. Let's Chamba. No purchase necessary. VTW Group, void-work prohibited by law. CCNC's 21 Plus. Sponsored by ChambaCasino.