How a Ren Faire Crew Turned a Whiny Intern Into Rainwater Gold: A Tale of Petty Camping Revenge
If you’ve ever spent a weekend at a Renaissance faire, you know it’s equal parts fantasy and chaos. Now, imagine living that chaos for weeks on end, crammed in an RV with your business partners and—just to keep things spicy—a brand-new intern who won’t stop complaining. That’s the setup for one of the most delightfully petty tales to grace Reddit’s r/PettyRevenge: the saga of “Santo” and the mythical rainwater cistern.
Sit back, grab your (possibly period-appropriate) mug of mead, and prepare to learn how a team of crafty leatherworkers turned a whiny intern’s misery into a masterclass in harmless payback—one that had Reddit laughing, singing, and asking for more.
Life in the RV: Not Quite Glamping
Let’s set the scene. Our narrator, Mary, and her partners Todd and Megan make their living designing and selling leather gear at Renaissance faires across the country. According to Mary (a.k.a. u/RovingFrog), this merry band of artisans travels together in a large RV, which doubles as home and workshop wherever the road—and the faire circuit—takes them.
You’d think the hardest part might be the endless travel or the unpredictable weather. But at this particular show, the real challenge was the organizers themselves. Despite accepting more reservations than they could handle, the event failed to provide enough camping spots—leaving Mary’s crew stranded in the middle of an unused field with zero RV hookups: no water, no electricity, no sewage. Just a generator and proximity to a communal shower house.
But hey, seasoned faire folk are nothing if not adaptable. As Mary noted, “you get used to making improvising fun as a way to deal with the crap that comes up.” Unfortunately, not everyone on the crew was so chill about “roughing it.”
Enter Santo: The Intern Who Wouldn’t Stop Complaining
This is where Santo comes in. Hired as a paid intern, Santo was warned—repeatedly—that the RV would be more “hard-sided tent” than luxury suite for the next three weeks. Showers and restrooms? All in the distant shower house. Creature comforts? Not so much.
But Santo either didn’t get the memo or just didn’t want to deal. From the heat to the workload, he spent the setup day “bitching all day,” making an already tough situation feel downright unbearable. The rest of the crew tried to roll with it, but as commenter u/Cutebooty04 put it, “sometimes folks need a dose of their own complaining to realise how they're coming off.”
And that’s exactly what Santo got—served up with a side of classic Ren Faire mischief.
The Cistern Caper: When Petty Revenge Is Pure Comedy Gold
As rain started to pour down that evening, Santo asked when the crew would “hook up the water to the RV.” Todd, apparently the group’s quick-witted troublemaker, didn’t miss a beat: “As soon as someone climbs onto the roof to open the water collection cistern.”
What cistern? Megan chimed in, “the one on the roof for rain collection so that when you’re camping without water connection you can still have water.”
Santo, ever the skeptic, was dubious. But the crew doubled down, spinning a yarn about a “crank in the bedroom ceiling” (really just the TV antenna) that switched the water supply from hose to cistern. The back-and-forth continued until Santo, desperate for a shower, finally believed he’d need to climb onto the RV roof in the storm to “open the cistern.”
He stepped out into the pouring rain, shoeless and pants rolled up, only to turn around and ask, “You guys aren’t screwing with me, right?”
Cue the punchline: “Nope, we’re screwing with you, but hey, how’s that shower?”
For the record, Mary and the gang never intended to let Santo actually climb up there in the dark and wet—they just needed to break the tension and give him a taste of his own medicine. As u/Cutebooty04 noted with approval, “those little jokes make the story way more memorable.”
Renaissance Faire Life: Chaos, Camaraderie, and a Chorus of Raindrops
The post’s comments section was a festival of its own, with many readers immediately invoking classic rain-themed tunes. “🎶🎶 raindrops keep falling on my head...🎶🎶” sang u/FormInternational583, prompting a chorus of agreement and laughter.
Others were curious about the backstory—what exactly was this traveling partnership? Mary clarified in the comments that they’re merchant vendors, designing and selling leather gear at faires nationwide. “Most larger Renaissance Faires are open on weekends for 6-12 weeks. This one was smaller, new, and fit well into a space of time that we had available.”
Some commenters, like u/LindonLilBlueBalls and u/Ambitious-Ganache891, wanted more context, and Mary obliged—proving that sometimes the best stories come with a little behind-the-scenes insight.
Was the prank justified? For most readers, the answer was a resounding yes. “This is such a harmless petty payback,” wrote u/Cutebooty04, echoing the sentiment that a little lighthearted revenge can go a long way toward restoring harmony in close quarters. And it seemed to work: Mary reported that Santo “actually did settle down the next day,” even if he “never did get less gullible.”
Of course, a few dissenters argued the line between petty revenge and a simple prank—u/Lost-Meeting-9477 quipped, “You're confusing petty revenge with pranks.” But as any Ren Faire veteran will tell you, sometimes a little mischief is the best way to keep things merry.
Rain, Revenge, and Ren Faire Resilience
In the end, this story isn’t really about making an intern trudge out into a downpour. It’s about the camaraderie that forms when you’re stuck in less-than-ideal circumstances, the creativity that hardship can inspire, and the kind of lighthearted payback that keeps tempers (and spirits) in check.
So, next time you find yourself at a Renaissance faire (or maybe just the next family camping trip), remember: a little harmless mischief might just be the secret to surviving the storm.
What’s your favorite tale of camping chaos or petty revenge? Share your story in the comments—or, as they say in the faire world, “Let the games begin!”
Original Reddit Post: Camping revenge