In a world buzzing with constant chatter and hush-hush exchanges, it’s no wonder our ears catch fragments of conversations not meant for us. We stumble upon secrets, confessions, and even the darkest revelations, unintentionally becoming eavesdroppers. We’ll unlock these hidden conversations and explore the stories never intended for our ears, refusing to fade away.
Waiting to Skype call my long-distance girlfriend and before the video comes on the audio peaks up, heard her roommate yell to her “You gonna dump that sorry little boy now?” Yeah, she immediately turned off the feed and broke up with me over Skype text instead. Nice.
I was on a cruise and reading a book in one of the lounges. This very upset woman sat sort of behind me, and her husband was with her. She was crying because their vet had some bad news about their dog, and she was trying to call the vet. She told the husband after she got off the phone that she needed 15 min to listen to a song by herself and collect her thoughts. He asked if he could get her anything and she said no, she just wanted to be alone for a minute.
Once he left… she called her BOYFRIEND and started giving him grief about girls liking his pictures on Instagram and how jealous she was and was making plans to sneak off to call him later. Sc*mbag.
Met my boyfriend’s family, then walked into the other room. “She’s nice and all, but I really liked [ex’s name] better. Whatever happened to her?”
My family and I were at a restaurant and there was a father and his daughter (we’ll call D, for daughter) sitting in the booth right across the aisle from us. D looked to be no more than 20 years old. She talks the whole time about her ex, Chris.
Apparently, Chris was married and D did not give two sh*ts. She said it was the wife’s fault for not being good enough to keep her husband faithful. Welp, Chris was still sleeping with his wife because she got pregnant. When D found out the wife was pregnant, D told Chris he had to choose between her and his wife. At first, Chris chose D. Then he found out his unborn child had congenital heart defects. So, he called off the divorce, broke up with D, and moved back in with his wife.
D sits there in silence looking slightly bewildered before saying, “I don’t know why he chose her and the retard baby. So what if it dies? They can always make another one.” But that’s not the worst part. Her dad breaks his silence and asks, “So, your mom and Chris aren’t getting divorced?” YOUR MOM and Chris?! YOUR MOM?! This batsh*t crazy b*tch was having a blatant affair with her much older stepfather, made him choose between her and her pregnant mother, and then made sociopathic comments about her unborn brother.
I was 14 and I overheard my mother talking with a doctor about my younger sister’s cancer treatment, I had no idea she had cancer, she had no idea she had cancer. As soon as she got off the phone I asked her what was going on, she burst into tears, I burst into tears.
My little sister was 8 at the time and had been ill for months, so I helped my parents talk to her, it was very upsetting. We shortly took her to a clinic 500 miles away, and spent a week there, no cancer, no leukemia, misdiagnosed, she had an abscess that caused her symptoms. Easily treated, but I’ll never forget hearing the phone call.
After speaking with my grandpa on the phone before he properly hung up, I heard him commenting to my uncle about how ungrateful I was. I had at that point visited every week for a year and cleaned his entire bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, hallway and living room every single god-d*mned week. Usually bringing some food or dessert with me.
I moved out of town shortly after this.
I phoned my friend and asked him if he wanted to hang out (I was maybe 10). He said he had to ask his mom.
I heard him say, “lazarus870 wants to do something. But I don’t want to see him.” I guess he either thought he muted the phone or did a sh*tty job at muffling it or something.
Then he came back to the phone, “Sorry my mom said I can’t.”
He was a terrible friend over the years.
I overheard two girls in front of me at the school library.
Girl 1: My boyfriend is such a b*stard! He cheated on me!
Girl 2: Why don’t you just leave him then?
Girl 1: Because I’ve cheated on him so many times that it wouldn’t be fair.
My wife had a falling out with some friends of mine that she met through me. We had known them a long time but I had known them for much longer. I was upset with her one night because they were always asking why she never came around anymore, but she absolutely refused to see them. I always thought it was because of this little side business project they went into together that didn’t work out.
So I’m driving my wife somewhere, and I just start getting upset with her that she won’t make up with them and move past it like they did, and it sucks that she never comes with me when I go over there. So she finally broke and told me the truth.
Every time she went over there without me, they would talk sh*t about me, putting down my personality, my humor, and much more. I guess they thought she would be ok with it, like a joking “Haha my husband can be such a [insert something], right?” But she wasn’t ok with it. She’s not a confrontational person, so she never really spoke up, but she was disgusted by the way they spoke about me behind my back and refused to have anything to do with them. She had been letting me think it was all her fault and she took it because she knew the truth would hurt my feelings. And it did.
Standing in line waiting for my Tim Hortons coffee. The girl in front of me was talking with her friend:
“yeah.. so I caught HIV from this dude. It’s okay though, it’s not like I’m going to die right away”
I want some of her positivity.
I went out to a bar with some friends for a birthday party for my ex-girlfriend. She really messed me up when she left me, like really bad, but I was trying to be nice since she invited me so I figured I’d go out and be there for a drink or two.
So, a mutual friend who had been broken up with a few days before and was there, so as I made the rounds I talked to her and tried to do whatever I could to let her know it would be ok. I’m no therapist, but I did my best ya know? I knew what a bad breakup felt like, as I was also going through one, so I tried to help.
Anyways, after I left the table I overheard her talking to my ex at the bar about me trying to give her advice and she said, “Well nobody has ever loved him so what does he know about any of this?” And they started laughing. Don’t think they know I heard, but I grabbed my coat immediately and took a long walk home.
I don’t need people like that in my life, haven’t willingly seen either of them since.
My mother said in front of my much younger brother and I “If I could do it all over again I’d never have married your father and not have kids.” she doesn’t realize I’m not joking when I say I’m not taking care of her when she gets old. I understand she was divorced and hurting but my brother was 7 maybe 8 he didn’t need to hear that.
I was invited to a childhood friend’s sleepover. I had a feeling that I wasn’t supposed to be there because I got a sleeping bag while the other girls got air beds. Mum figured it was because I was the last one there. Couldn’t sleep, so just pretended.
Childhood friend’s other friend: “Why did you invite her anyway? Everyone knows you hate her.” Childhood friend: “Our mums are friends, I didn’t ask for her to be here.”
I pretended I had a stomach bug so Mum could come and pick me up. Since that point, I refused to go to a sleepover and haven’t had a friend round to stay either since.
My future MIL and SIL were talking to my husband before we were married and telling him that I wasn’t the right girl for him, he could do better, and that I was too fat for him. I never told him I knew that until after we got married. It crushed me to know that they were both sweet to my face, but that they felt like that in reality.
I dunno if this counts as “overheard” or not, but I guess this kind of counts. One night back in 2005, I was getting ready for bed when my phone rang.
“Hi, are you thewrongbakedpotato?”
“Yes . . .” I responded.
“I hate to ask this, but my daughter had a son a long time ago and gave him away. I’ve been looking for him since he was born. Do you know who all of your grandparents are? Were you adopted?”
Unfortunately for her, I knew my whole biological family. I recounted my family history and how I couldn’t possibly be her “wrongbakedpotato.” She asked me a few times if I was sure–absolutely sure–but I had to specify that I was.
Then she asked me a bit about myself, what I did in school and what I did for a living. I think she was trying to imagine what her lost grandson, who just happened to share my name, might be like.
I hope that poor lady found her grandson.
I had just moved into my dorm for my second year of college. My roommate was my best friend since 9th grade. My stuff hadn’t arrived yet, and it was my time to register, so I asked him if I could use his computer. He said sure.
I sat down, and he had AIM open to a conversation with another friend of ours. I didn’t scroll up, but from what was just visible on screen, they were talking about how weird I was and how awful it would be rooming with me.
I closed it so he wouldn’t realize later I’d seen it, registered, and left. We still lived together that year, but we didn’t hang out at all. We just cohabited. I never asked him to hang out as friends, he never asked me.
Move out day that year was the last time we spoke. That was over ten years ago. We chatted every day for six years, then haven’t spoken since.
I still don’t know if I did or said something to flip how he felt about me, or if he never really liked me to begin with. The possibility of the latter really f*cks up your future friendships. Heck, the former does too, knowing apparently you’re capable of unknowingly saying or doing something to throw away a five-year friendship.
I was 15. I was at my sister’s house babysitting my nephew and was asleep on the couch when she and her husband got home at about 2 am. The phone rang. It woke me but I lay there pretending to be asleep as I listened to her answer it. I heard her say, “What!? Oh my god! Oh my god!”
She hung up and said to her husband, “That was my dad. Diablo [my horse] got out of the pasture and went into the road. He got hit by a car and killed. How am I going to tell Madcats323?”
I said, “I already know.”
That was 45 years ago. It still hurts.
Probably when I was really sick from drinking when I was still a (very heavy) drinker and hearing my mum come into the room and say “Please make it through the night” as she was going to bed.
Turned out after a visit to the hospital the next day that I was extremely dehydrated with alcohol poisoning and probably knocking on death’s door. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’ve never relapsed since, but that was the day it really hit home that I had a serious problem and it was killing me.
For anyone else in that place, I can’t recommend AA enough. They’ve saved me from so many more potential relapses. There’s a common misconception that you have to be religious. You don’t. There are a lot of references in the material that talks about a “higher power” that *sounds* religious, but it doesn’t mean a literal deity. Your “higher power” can be anything, but it’s often the Jungian concept of the “self” but it can equally be a god if you are religious.
I left home at 18 because I lived in a toxic household with conservative Christianity as the excuse and mental illness as the aggravator. It should come as no surprise, but over the phone, I heard my mother telling my youngest sister that she hoped she became nothing like me.
This hurt for two reasons.
My sister is extremely like me, and to know that she is going through exactly what I went through, or worse in a bid to stop her from becoming like me, hurts. I left that home with so many issues, and I know that not only her, but my other siblings will eventually leave with a set of their own. I’m trying to talk to them frequently enough and alleviate the poison my mom is pouring into their minds, but my youngest sister is already depressed and much more. It’s difficult because they are “homeschooled” so they only have me and other family members. They are totally isolated, as I was, and surrounded by religious propaganda.
The reason for my mom to “love me in her own way” (see: love me when convenient to tout her good deeds to her church and pyramid scheme groupies) is because I’m queer, living with my same-sex significant other, outside the bounds of marriage.
Forget that I am successful, am currently pursuing two degrees to further my success in my adult life, and am combating my own laundry list of mental health issues and disabilities. Forget that I succeeded past everything she set me up against. I am queer, and that is a sin.
Despite all of my accomplishments and the work I have put in to make sure that I can help my siblings escape when their time comes (and on some level, make her proud) none of it matters, because I am queer.
When my oldest sister died, my older sister was crying to my mother about how she felt alone. My mother was trying to reassure her and said, “You still have vampedvixen though.” But my sister said, “Who cares about her? I want [oldest sister] back.” I kinda get it… but this was around the same time my mother told me to my face that it should have been me who died instead because I don’t have a husband or kids like my oldest sister did. It seemed like absolutely no one wanted me in my family and they all wished I could have switched places with the one we lost.
People wonder why I’m depressed now.
I was in Middle School and I overheard one of the girls doing one of those paper fortune-telling games with the boys and predicting who they were going to date. She opened up the paper and said, “Ugh, you’re going to date glimmerfox,” and the guy just said “Gross.”
Yep found out that I wasn’t really considered a catch.
My father truly cried to a friend that he ruined the possibility to leave anything to his sons. Moreso, he wished he had listened to me about how to spend money.
He’s dying and likely gone in the next 2-5 years due to multiple strokes, diabetes, Heart Attack, and Agent Orange.
I love him. And it f*cking hurts to think all he cares about even in all his suffering, is that he has nothing to leave us.
My boss mocked me to my entire team.
To be fair, I was being a b*tch but it wasn’t without reason. The product I was working on was not working as intended so I kept getting farther and farther behind overall. When I brought up my concerns with production potentially contaminating my product and causing it to behave incorrectly he told me the product wasn’t the problem, I was because I wasn’t working fast enough. I got extremely frustrated because I had zero support on this, massive pressure and needed to get this done so with frustration tears running down my face I snapped something along the lines of, “Okay, fine, I guess this is just how we do business now. I’ll push it through.”
An hour later I heard him behind the hoods in his most high-pitched, condescending, mocking, girl voice to everyone I work closely with (I’m the only female on my team) repeating, “Okay, fine, I guess this is just how we do business now. I’ll push it through.”, while he incorrectly recounted our conversation making me look really bad.
The worst part though? There really was a problem with production, it was a huge one and he took credit for discovering it. My team does not respect me anymore after that, I’m now just talked down to. It feels so horrible that I let my emotions get the better of me just once and in a matter of five minutes, everyone’s perception of me changed so drastically that I can’t get anyone to take anything I say seriously. It has gotten so bad that I’m looking for another job and I’m willing to take significantly lower pay just to escape the “emotional female” ghost that now haunts me.
I once overheard on a bus a woman explaining to her friend that she didn’t like that her new BF 10 yo daughter had to live with them because her mom was in the hospital, so she had hidden money and valuables in the little girl’s bag, and was planning to confront her about the “theft” with BF present and get her kicked out of the house.
When that Turboc*nt friend asked where the girl would go once she was kicked out ( mom in hospital and all that), that monster of a woman answered ” She can sleep under the bridge or work on her back like her sl*t of a mother I don’t give a sh*t, this is MY man and she can die for all I care”
I swear if that poor kid had been with them I would have brought her home with me. I am not maternal in any way but some things and people are just… nightmarish.
I was in the emergency room for 5 hours with a semi-ruptured appendix. I was out there so long; passing out and coming to… I thought I was going to die. Turns out there was a greyhound that ran over a minivan with a family inside. Everyone but the driver made it out ok. When they finally took me back I heard a doctor say to a woman “Ma’am, I’m sorry. We did everything we could, but your husband didn’t make it”. That wasn’t the part that was bad. It was what happened next…. the woman made a sound that struck me to the core. I’ll never forget it. It’s been almost 20 years ago and it still makes me tear up thinking about it. The sound elicited so many emotions of anger and disbelief and sadness. There’s just something about that sound coming from another human. The wailing, half-sobbing, muttering scream that it was.
Definitely, the worst thing I have ever overheard.
An angry guy and his teenage son checking out at a convenience store…they were buying a drug test for the son. Father says, “You know if I had killed you when you were born, I’d be out of prison by now.”
I lost my sh*t.
My mom had left me and my two brothers (who are both developmentally disabled, but relatively high functioning) with family members while she was on deployment in the Navy since my dad wasn’t around.
We were at my great grandparent’s house and a lot of aunts and uncles were there to decide who was going to be taking care of who.
I was standing in the kitchen making tea when I overheard my grandmother say “I’ll take [older brother’s name] and [younger brother’s name] but someone else will have to take [my name] I don’t want him around. He’s too violent. (I was taught by my mom and dad at a really young age to defend my brothers against anyone who picked on them. Eventually, it became that I defended anyone that was being bullied which led to a lot of fighting all the time.) He’s just like his father and will turn out to be just as worthless.”
I could hear a lot of family members openly agree.
I ended up with one of the aunts for a short time then long story short I ended up homeless. That’s when I decided I wanted to spite all of them and live the best life I could. I ended up finding good friends to stay with and rent a room from that I paid for by doing odd jobs. Graduated high school a year early and joined the army.
Eating pizza at a redneck bar near my house. It was when iPhones first came out, and I asked my friend if he could set it up and record some random talking/ambient noise so that I could use it on an album I was working on. He downloaded an app to record and set up the phone on this half wall between the tables and the bar (we were at a table).
Didn’t think much of it while we were eating. On the way home we decide to give it a listen. Turned out a guy was there b*tching about his wife leaving him. No big deal…but this crazy redneck woman he was talking to told him how to take out insurance on her and then make her have an “accident”.
The guy wasn’t into the idea at all…just laughed it off pretty much, but the woman was sh*t-faced and going on about how easy it would be. I think a friend of mine still has a digital copy of it somewhere.
On a train homeward bound. The man sitting next to me phones up the woman in his life
“Honey, I have a surprise for you”
“No, I won’t tell you, you have to guess”
“Ok, it starts with a G”
“Alright, the next letter is an R”
“That’s it!” And he hangs up the phone.
I have absolutely no idea what it was.
“She’s really talented, too bad about that face.”
I used to do cosplay big time, I paid my way thru college doing commissions and actually changed my major to costuming because I loved it so much.
I’ve always been better at making cosplay for “pretty” people, but to hear it so flagrantly was so painful.
It was worse, too, because I was a cosplay judge at the convention this was said at, and it was said to friends of mine (who, in fairness, said some things back to those girls) but it was hard to go on to judge the person fairly for such a mean remark a few hours prior.
I stopped doing costumes for myself, partly because of this, giving voice to something I already was insecure about anyways.
Someone higher than me texted “he is asking for a day off. Doesn’t he realize he is walking on eggshells?” Meant for my boss, but sent to me by accident.
I called him right away and I’ve never heard someone backtrack so hard.
I quit, giving a month’s notice, 2 years later.
Now I don’t have to worry about walking on eggshells, because I run my own business.
In high school, I went to prom with my best friend in a backless gown. I had undiagnosed PCOS at the time and when I had that time of the month, I’d have my entire body break out in acne, so I have and did have a lot of scarring from that.
Overheard one of my other best friends asking, “Who went to prom with Jay? Her back was DISGUSTING” complete with gagging sounds.
I turned around and said “O I did! What did you say? Couldn’t hear you.” Never seen anyone turn white or look as embarrassed in my life. Still hurt though, a lot. I’m still self-conscious about my scars in my mid-twenties.
I went fishing down at the river with my dad and his aunt when I was about 9 or 10. I wandered off into the woods out of absolute boredom. While they thought I was out of earshot, I heard my dad say, “I married her because it was the right thing to do” referencing my mom. Overheating my dad say that absolutely broke my heart and made me feel like every bad thing happening in our lives was because I existed. I couldn’t stop thinking about the comment and it bothered me for years. One day when my teenage hormones were at their peak and my mom was being extra critical, irrational and mean-spirited, I yelled at her “If I’m so horrible then why did you even have me? I’m just a huge accident that ruined both of your lives!” She screamed back, “I had you because I didn’t want to be alone for the rest of my life!” As an adult, I realized my mom probably trapped my dad by getting pregnant on purpose. They got married when she was a little over 3 months pregnant with me. She was 30 when she got pregnant, and she was married once before she met, trapped, and married my dad. She managed not to get pregnant that whole time with her first husband, and she’s managed not to get pregnant ever again after I was born because I’m an only child. I now live 2,500 miles away from my mom, who lives alone.
I was once in a public bathroom when a woman dragged her kid in and started screaming,
“You better start listening to me or I’ll have to start beating you! I’m not afraid to go to jail today!”
I was pretty terrified to leave my stall.
A lady sat next to me on the train and i heard her talk about going to see her daughter who was in labour with twins. After that phone call ended she took another and began to cry. A lot of “oh no. Oh no.”
After she finished the call I asked her if she was okay and if I could do anything.
The “oh no” call was from the hospital. One of the twins (the big one therefore strongest) had died during labour. She didn’t know the status of the other. I then listened to her call up those that needed to know.
She was 3 hours away at this point, i felt terrible. Eventually, the conductor took her to 1st class to get some space/peace.
I was a drug addict for most of my teens and 20s. I’ll never forget the night I accidentally heard my loving parents talking about me and my dad saying something along the lines of “I don’t know what to do with her. We tried to educate her, pay for her schooling, keep a roof over her head and food in her mouth and love her, but she won’t stop. I can’t do anything else for her. What do we do, just give her to the state to take care of? She’s gonna die. The way she looks, she won’t make it another year.”
I was devastated. Fast forward a while. I’ve been clean for six years straight, plus a couple of others before that (had a short relapse). Just celebrated an amazing Christmas with my parents, sister, nieces and nephews and my husband and kiddo. My family loves and trusts me, and my life is better than I ever could’ve imagined it could possibly be. When I think back to hearing my dad say that, and how it made me feel, then I think about this morning and all the love I felt, and the relief I still see on their faces sometimes when they just randomly tell me they’re so proud of how far I’ve come; it makes me tear up and warms my heart.
Not everyone gets a chance to get out of active addiction. I’ve lost many friends to the disease and still keep in touch with some of their parents and siblings. If you know someone struggling with addiction, or you yourself are struggling; please don’t give up. Recovery is possible.
I do IT and I’m a woman. It’s rare but there really is some prejudice to women in my field, I didn’t used to think it was a thing until I started experiencing it myself. It took me a long time to get where I am, and a lot of pushing to get any respect.
I was on the emergency pager and a client called. I had never spoken to this particular user because he was a night worker, but I knew their system like the back of my hand.
He said, “We’re having X issue, could you get one of the guys to help me?”
I didn’t think anything of it, I answered the phone so, of course, he’s going to think I’m just a receptionist, didn’t think it meant anything until…
I asked him to hold while I went out to my car to get my laptop set up (I was in class).
He must have thought I put him on hold because then I hear him say to one of his coworkers, “yea, I have the girl on the phone, trying to keep her from being the person who helps me.” (Something along those lines).
I didn’t say anything about it, waited a few minutes, and then said “Ok, I’m back, and no worries I know what’s wrong and I’ll get you fixed up right away”. Fixed the issue in minutes and never let it slip that I heard him.
It hurts though. Like I said it’s rare, and after a management change, I finally have a boss that appreciates how hard I work. But it’s not the first time someone has discounted my ability because I’m a girl, and I know it won’t be the last.
The sh*ttiest part is when it happens I get major anxiety because I’m trying so hard to prove myself, and I think that makes me seem/act incompetent during those times.
My ex-boyfriend had an old BMW that he absolutely adored, so, for his birthday I decided I would do a painting of it for him. I spent days carefully drawing it, painting it, and buying a nice frame for it. When I was finished I sent a picture of it to a group chat with my friends because I was proud of my efforts, without realising someone had added my boyfriend to the chat earlier. He saw the photo and replied something along the lines of ‘hahaha wtf is that retarded thing’…I threw the painting in the trash and never told him.
In a second-hand bookstore’s coffee shop, heard from a guy on a payphone near our table where I was drinking hot chocolate:
“Two people DIED because of the sh*t you pulled the other night, the cops are already asking me about you.”
Eight-year-old me was pretty horrified to hear this. Later we saw him getting loaded into a police vehicle.
My boyfriend’s best friend from high school said, “Wow man, I really thought you could do better!” My boyfriend said nothing.
I went to the mall with my family as a kid once in the sixth grade. I ran into a girl I knew from school, Janet. I’d help her with her classwork for Spanish. She was with a friend and I joyfully said hello. As I walked away, her friend asked her who I was and she said “She’s in my class. We gave her a makeover once!” And her friend said, “Uhh, she really needed one.” They both laughed but I heard the whole thing. I remember feeling very low and ashamed that she was basically just using me for school and didn’t stand up for me. I didn’t have many friends then, as I was very timid and self-conscious of my appearance.
When I was about ten years younger, so somewhere around 16 I heard my mother say something about I won’t ever forget. It was a Saturday close to midnight and I had left my room to grab a snack from the kitchen. I noticed my parent’s bedroom light was on from under their door which I thought was odd. I assumed they’d be asleep, and I am guessing they thought the same for me. Curiosity got the better of me when I could hear that they were talking but could not make it out. I sneaked as close as I could to listen and that’s when I heard my mom say it. She said, “Sometimes I wish I hadn’t listened to my mom and had gotten GradiusInfinity aborted.” It stabbed me in the stomach. I knew I had been acting out lately and had not been the best son. But I’ll never forget it.
“I just can’t see ourselves being able to afford to put him through University”
I didn’t love school but seeing my sister at university made me really want to go.
Overheard this conversation from my parents one night and decided not to apply because the financial strain would’ve been too big on my family coupled with the fact I’m not the smartest kid and maybe I wouldn’t have done too well. I’m 19 and would be going into my second year right now.
I work full-time at a job I really like with good career prospects but a part of me still wishes I could be studying to be a Personal Trainer/PE teacher.
None of my family knows that this is part of the reason I didn’t apply they all think I just didn’t want to go.