Ghosted and Frostbitten: How One Woman Served Up the Coldest Petty Revenge on a Dating App Player
Revenge is a dish best served cold, but on this snowy night, it was positively subarctic. Imagine being ghosted after a vulnerable post-breakup hookup, only for your ghoster to boomerang back—horny, hopeful, and totally unaware he’s about to star in your personal ice age. This is the epic, laugh-out-loud story of u/insomniac_reads, who turned heartbreak into a masterclass in petty revenge, as told on Reddit’s r/PettyRevenge.
But beyond the delicious drama, this saga struck a nerve with thousands, sparking a wildfire of support, debate, and hard-earned wisdom about modern dating’s trickiest terrain. Ready to experience the chills, the cheers, and the cautionary tales? Bundle up.
When Ghosters Return: The Setup for a Snowy Showdown
Fresh out of a painful breakup, our heroine did what many of us have (regrettably) done: turned to dating apps for a quick distraction. She matched with a guy who seemed to get her—a rare unicorn in the wilds of swipe culture. He listened, empathized, and, in a move familiar to anyone who’s been burned, promised something “more than a hookup.”
For a week, things were electric, messages flew, and eventually, bodies met. “We were talking everyday for about a week and at the week’s end, we hooked up,” she wrote. But just as quickly as things heated up, they went ice cold. The next day? Radio silence. She was left on read—while his online status taunted her. When she finally called him out, he disappeared, reopening old wounds and making her question if she’d ever find a guy like her ex.
Her vulnerability was palpable, and many commenters felt the sting with her. As u/Minflick put it, “It's SUCH a thing for men to chase you until you have sex with them, and then vanish. Disgusting.” Another user, u/ElephantNamedColumbo, nailed the real heartbreak: “If he had been honest from the beginning… you would have just accepted & been temporarily happy & moved on… Instead of making you feel there was something special.”
The Art of Petty Revenge: Icy, Calculated, and Oh So Satisfying
But the universe has a way of circling back—and so did Mr. Ghost. Three weeks and a little self-healing later, she spotted his profile on another app. This time, she was no longer desperate. She decided to play the game.
She liked him back. Within minutes, he messaged, full of apologies (and, let’s be real, not-so-subtle thirst). She played it cool, made him work to “win her trust back,” and let him believe he was back in her good graces. But as the week wore on, his true colors reappeared—conversations steered back to sex, and it was clear he was angling for a rerun.
So, she set the trap: “I decided to ‘give in’ and tell him to come over on Saturday. This was during heaviest snow day and it was really cold outside. I told him to come to my apartment building at 1am because I don’t want my roommates to be awake.”
He arrived. He texted. He waited. She… left him on read. “After about 30 minutes, I look through my window and see him practically running away since it was so cold outside.” She unmatched him as he typed his final, frantic message.
The revenge? “Ice cold,” as u/Slight-Book2296 quipped, with u/NeartAgusOnoir adding, “How cold? ICE cold!” The comment section erupted in applause—“You froze his ass out!!!!” wrote u/BarneyPoppy, while others simply declared, “Good job, OP!”
Lessons, Laughs, and a Few Warnings from the Peanut Gallery
But as satisfying as her frosty revenge was, the story sparked real talk about dating, boundaries, and self-respect. Some, like u/_allycat, voiced concern: “I’d be freaked out to do that when he knows where I live.” OP was quick to clarify she felt safe thanks to her building’s multiple layers of card access, but as u/Nihelus wisely cautioned, “Don’t let it give you a false sense of security… It only takes angering one wrong person for things to go bad. Be careful out there.”
The community also discussed the deeper patterns behind ghosting and manipulation in dating apps. Why do some people promise more than they intend? As u/thunderling pointed out, “If it was mutually agreed upon to be casual, he could have had sex with her more than once… WHY LIE? You both want the same thing!” OP herself echoed this, marveling, “He really didn’t have to do all that lol.”
And if you’re stuck in a similar cycle—unsure if someone’s worth your time—there’s no shortage of sage advice. “You're never too far gone to end a relationship. That's the sunk cost fallacy talking to you,” counseled u/MyDogsNameIsToes. Or, as Maya Angelou (and u/SrslyPissedOff) put it, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”
The Takeaway: Satisfying Petty Vengeance—and Moving Forward
Was it a little petty? Absolutely. But sometimes, a dash of well-placed spite is the antidote to being played. As u/SrslyPissedOff summed it up: “Heh heh - perfectly petty! Brava!”
The real victory, though, wasn’t just watching a ghoster shiver on the doorstep. It was reclaiming a shred of self-respect—and sparking a conversation about honesty, boundaries, and the hilarious, heartbreaking messiness of modern romance.
So, what would you do if your ghoster came crawling back? Would you serve up your own icy justice, or take the high road? Share your stories, your laughs, and your lessons in the comments—because in the wild world of dating, we could all use a little sisterhood (and maybe, just maybe, a snowstorm or two).
Have you served up your own petty revenge? Tell us below!
Original Reddit Post: My ghoster came crawling back, so I gave him a taste of his own medicine