There's always a bigger fish… No matter how big or small you are, you can almost take solace in the fact that there's always going to be someone bigger or better than you at something and will soon come to take your place. This is a real worry to the big fish out there who are desperate to maintain their status as top dogfish. In this way, sometimes being the smallest fish is beneficial because all the other fish are so much larger than you that they consider you to not be a threat or even wort…

Instant karma is one of those magical phenomena that makes you think the universe really does have a sense of humor. It's when the cosmos delivers a swift dose of payback right when it's needed, and it's downright satisfying to witness. We've rounded up 20 of the funniest real-life instant karma stories from Redditors who caught it all in action.

If you've ever suffered the effects of living next door to someone entitled, loud, Karenish, unaware, creepy, or just downright insufferable, you've probably laid awake in bed at night thinking of ways to get your revenge.

Match their energy

Winning on a technicality never felt so good

The people who refuse to deal with their own problems, and resort to calling the authorities whenever something mildly inconvenient happens to them, are the people you should stay as far away from as you possibly can. But, if you cannot stay away from these people, for example, if they are your neighbors, then you might want to consider giving them a taste of their own medicine. Say your neighbors decided to call the cops on you because you wanted to help them out by clearing some trash out of…

Nobody likes an HOA–except, of course, the overinflated, pompous, self-elected members. So when independent homeowners finally claw themselves out of an HOA dictatorship of a neighborhood, the quasiHOA vibes of an unruly neighborhood Karen can certainly rub them the wrong way.

". . . despite it being in absolute black and white he refused to accept any fault or offer anything to make things right."

This bad-mouthing Betty might think twice before disrespecting anyone in the workplace

This is the kind of prank that people dream about. To think up and then execute such a brilliant way to get your least favorite coworker to quit on the spot is just * chef's kiss *. Perfection! This guy was working in construction when he managed to make someone rage quit on the spot, and do so in such a way that he could never get his job back. It's probably occurred to all of us at some point that quitting a job on the spot would feel so good. Telling your boss to go kick rocks and triumphant…

Talk about a manager who acted out of turn for no good reason. Here , we have a dude who was threatened by the fact that one of his bartenders at their pub helped bring in a ton of much-needed new staff members who were all his personal friends. Why was this problem? The manager was worried that they would all gossip behind his back and plan his demise. Sounds pretty paranoid and dramatic but that's exactly how this guy seemed to be wired. How did he act on his fears? Well, he decided the best…

It's important to remember in any circumstances where you want to circumvent security and gain entrance to somewhere that you're going to need to get out as well… and the same thing applies when you're trying to get back into somewhere you've gotten out of. Anyone who ever snuck out as a teenager knows exactly how this goes: getting out is pretty easy, but getting back into your room in the wee hours of the morning without waking anyone is exceedingly more difficult. Mom, if you're reading this…

It's not every day you get to enact revenge as an intern . Most interns spend their days getting coffee for the team, printing out papers, organizing the office, or looking over the shoulder of different employees to learn more about how they do their jobs. But for u/Y0bogoya, this was an opportunity to learn many different things, not all of which were being taught by their company. This person's petty revenge story revolves around trying to please their crush. The crush overheard another woma…

This person embarked on a three-year-long legal battle with their former business partner. That's a major turnaround: from running a company with someone to suing them in just a few short years! U/Due_Engineering_108 had a fantastic revenge story to share with everyone. It's clear that their resentment against their former business partner had been growing for some time, thanks to numerous broken promises and lies. Despite their 15-year-long business relationship, the two had differing visions…

Dr. Shadypants

Let's be real for a second, the best type of neighbors are those who you barely even notice are there. There is no need for pleasantries or friendships, all we need is peace and quiet, and the neighborhood will become a much better place. But as much as you can hope for these kinds of neighbors, chances are you are going to get stuck with the exact opposite. Neighbors with loud kids, or uneducated dogs, people who do not care about the noise they make or how miserable everyone else is because o…