As a grown-up you may not realize or accept this, but sometimes adults really suck when it comes to dealing with kids. We’ve all dealt with some major BS from adults growing up, whether it was from a teacher, your parents, or the neighbor across the street. These instances leave lasting wounds that still burn years later for some. These Redditors all experienced some grade-A unfairness as kids, and they’ve come together to share their stories. The adults in question may have forgotten about these moments, but the kids absolutely did not. Here are 50 times kids learned that adults suck.
1. The Stink of BS...and Something Worse
When I was about four or five years old, my mother made me take mandatory one-hour naps. It was her "quiet time". I wasn't tired and I couldn't sleep. I could hear the soap opera she was watching on the TV. Basically, I think she just didn't want to take care of me while she was watching TV. She wouldn't even let me go to the bathroom, and I had to pee really badly.
I ended up peeing on a little couch in my room, hoping it would dry. After a couple of weeks, it started smelling really bad, and my father gave me a rap on the butt. When I explained to him that my mother wouldn't let me out of the room, they got into a really big fight. He then apologized to me and gave me this big hug.
I remember crying uncontrollably, that kind of sobbing when you can barely breath and you take quick sips of air between cries... They got divorced years later...also, she tried to end her own life so many times, that I even thought she had moved to the hospital, since she was coming and going all the time... but that's another story.
2. Selective Hearing
My mom: Informs everyone dinner is ready by yelling from the bottom of the stairs and expects me to hear her despite my room being on the other side of the house, my door being closed, and my TV being on. Also my mom: "Don't yell from the top of the stairs, you need to ask me in person or else I can't hear you. I'm not made of ears you know".
3. Ghost Dad
In grade three I was sent to the principal's office because I refused to make a Father's Day card. I have two moms, no father. I was told to make a card for an imaginary dad, and I didn't because, well, that's stupid. When my moms picked me up after the school called they took me to get ice cream. Not all adults suck—just most of them.
4. Butt Out
I went to a private school where I was teased a lot. No one in admin did much when my friends and I reported it. Occasionally, a lecture from the AP for the entire class with no specifics or calling out. In 5th or 6th grade, one of my harassers kept pinching my butt in line for PE. I didn’t read into that at the time. I finally turned around and screamed at him to knock it off. I got detention and was forced to apologize.
5. Arby’s: Not Even Once
When I was like 12 my family was hanging out with another family and we went to Arby’s. I ate so many cheese sticks. You don’t even know how many. We go back to the other family’s house for a while, I hang out with the son in their basement all night playing games and whatnot. Go home. At like 4:00 a.m. I wake up puking my guts out. All those cheese sticks came right back up.
My mother accused me of drinking the whole night. To this day I still hate the taste of booze. Even when offered I refuse because I think it’s disgusting.
6. Slow Runner, Fast Disappointment
I was around seven or eight. It was sports day in my school and I participated in pass the baton. I was enjoying myself and trying my hardest, but at the end of it, my class teacher told my mum, in front of me, that I was too slow. Not sure why I took it to heart but I just felt disappointed and it made me lose confidence in sports.
7. That’s a Paddlin’
I was teased a lot in elementary school. To be fair, I was a pretty easy target for the teasing. So, every day at lunch and recess I would get chased and harassed by four other boys. One day the teacher assigned to keep order on the playground grabbed me and told me to quit running. But of course, as soon as I did the four boys began pushing and taunting me...
So, I started running again. Next thing I know the teacher grabs me by the arm and starts to paddle me. Teachers could do that back then. She missed my butt and caught me in the back again, so I cussed at her. She sent me to the principle’s office, and when I told him what had happened he just shook his head, then had me stand up to take three licks from his paddle. Fifth grade is when I learned the world was utter BS.
8. A Tsunami on Water Day
I was four years old, in pre-school. We were having "Water Day," which was this day full of water-based fun activities. Little kid me had been looking forward to this for weeks. Before we had free time to enjoy all the water games and kiddie pools, we had to do some mandatory team building games. There was this girl who hated me for no reason.
Of course, I got put with her. We were playing this dumb game where we had to pass a solo cup full of water down the line of kids as fast as possible. So, the cup gets to me, I try to hand it to her. She stares at me for like ten seconds while I hold this cup like an idiot, waiting for her to take the freaking cup.
Our team loses. She grabs the cup and splashes it on herself. She starts screaming/bawling—this is the part that still makes me furious. Teachers come over and she babbles about how I wouldn’t give her the cup then threw it at her when we lost. I get left alone in the music room all day staring at the grey walls while the rest of the class got to have fun playing in water. It was such BS it formed a core memory.
9. The Best Gift Is Love
In preschool, my mom gave me a book of math problems and said if I got them all done by the end of the day, I'd get a reward. I did the heck out of those math problems. I’ve probably never been so into math as I was that day. So, what was this great reward? It was a hug. I felt like Patrick from the Valentine's episode of SpongeBob.
10. Slow or No
When I was in kindergarten we had to that thing where you had a grid of boxes, and in each box was a word. You would have to cut out each box individually, then arrange the words in some order. After a few months of cutting out each box like we had been shown, I figured that cutting out the rows and putting them on top of each other so the boxes lined up, and cutting them out like that, would take a lot less time. My teacher saw me do this. I had to stay in at recess to cut them out the "right" way.
11. The Secret Food
I was asked to "watch the rectory" on Friday nights so the priests could have a night off. I was 12 years old. My job basically was to accept food that was brought by parishioners for the priests and find a place for it in their jam-packed double glass door fridge that was as wide as two refrigerators. There were four priests at our tiny parish.
I accepted fully cooked roasts, hams, casseroles, and cakes. I was told NOT to eat anything! A few months later I was made to clean the convent with a couple of the nuns as a punishment for talking too much in class. There were 23 nuns who lived on-site and taught school. Their kitchen had a tiny refrigerator and when it was lunchtime, they opened a cupboard of expired canned goods.
We had incredibly old tomato soup for lunch with stale bread and milk made from powder. I asked them if they knew about the food over at the rectory and they said no…
12. Red Card
Okay, in second grade we elected our own student government in the class. We had a mayor and a judge. It was pure popularity contest. Anyway, the teacher let the Judge handle petty things like "he took my pencil," or "he purposely hit me with the ball in four-square!" In gym class, I don't remember exactly what happened but I either tripped or was bumped into the girl next to me and we both fell over.
It was an accident. I was like, "Sorry," and helped her up. I thought that was the end of that, but the girl I had tripped over complained to the teacher. The teacher decided that the Judge could handle it. Well, the girl I knocked over was best friends with the Judge, and no matter how I pleaded the case, the Judge told me to change my card, which was the punishment. I remember I lost some sort of privilege because of it that week.
13. Lose, Lose, Lose
When our teacher would yell at us if we asked to go to the bathroom at the beginning of class because we should've gone earlier, and then yell at us if we asked to go in the middle of class because we were interrupting, and then yell at us if we wanted to go at the end because we were trying to ditch since the class was almost over.
14. Right Answers Only, Please
My mom would ask my opinion on things constantly. I would say it didn't matter to me, or whatever she thought was best, but she would force the issue until I finally answered. Then she would scream at me about how I didn't understand, or I was an idiot, or I never thought of her needs. I still panic a little when people ask for my opinion on something.
15. Technical Difficulties
This was back before classrooms were super tech-savvy. One afternoon, the teacher was trying a new system and wanted the class to participate. She couldn't get it to work and called the tech support guy. Well, this took a long time. We were just sitting there quietly, waiting impatiently, and the time for recess came. The teacher didn't let us go to recess because she couldn't figure out the computer program. This happened 11 years go and I am still angry.
16. Face Up or Face Down
Turned in two papers in third grade that were not facing the right way. Got held in 10 minutes from recess because they won’t let you do that in college or in business, apparently. Never had an issue with it in college. Worked a retail job with daily paperwork. They didn’t care what the paper looked like as long as they could read it and as long as it was done.
17. A Small Second Chance
First Grade. Teacher tells the class to complete a worksheet and there is to be NO TALKING. We all start on the worksheet…and a boy behind me starts talking to me about something. I turn and tell him to stop talking. Teacher called me out and made me go to the front and turn my card from green to yellow. Red is the next warning and means you're going to the principal's office.
I was inconsolable. I'd never gotten in trouble before. I stood under the slide the entire recess crying and then cried off and on the whole rest of the day silently. I just knew my parents were going to be so disappointed and would of course know before I got home. When I got home and they didn't know I'd had to turn my card, I told them.
They asked me why I was talking, and I told them the story. Mom said, "Well, he shouldn't have been talking, but let the teacher deal with him, you shouldn't. It's okay, it's not the end of the world". I was aghast! "What?! It isn't? I can still go back to school? It won't be on my permanent record!? My life isn't over and I won't be labeled a 'bad kid' forever?!" I felt like I got my second chance at life.
18. The Lawless Cafe
Freshman high school, a few friends and I were sitting in the cafeteria during lunchtime on a table with no more space available. Suddenly two random older girls come out of nowhere and start saying that we took their spots. It was like the second day of the school and we had sat at the same table on day one. Anyways, we refused to get off, so they called the security guard standing outside the cafeteria and they threatened us to find a diff table or get suspended. It was really my first ever BS experience and it got me really ticked off back then.
19. Principal’s Chew Toy
Back in elementary school I was somewhat misbehaved and let me tell you that annoying a bunch of power-tripping elementary school administrators will get you a lot of BS. I was sent to the principal's office for knocking over a cone during gym class. I was sent to the "guidance counselor," who was basically used the same way as the principal's office, for tearing a piece of paper.
Not me-specific, but there were lists posted on the wall of the school dictating which recess games kids in each grade could play. Octopus tag, for example, might only be allowed in second and third grade. If you wanted to play a game that was not on the list, you were required to talk to the principal first.
How one would arrange such a meeting was never really clear to me or anyone else. I was scolded for playing pretend Star Wars during recess because it "encouraged aggressive behavior". I was asked if I needed a chew toy to help me concentrate on my school work. I wasn't focusing on classwork because I found it too easy.
20. Beyond BS
My nephew and I are similar in age and one day we were playing outside just having a good time. He falls on the ground, cuts his leg, and starts crying. I run over to console him, and my mother runs out of the house, irate with me assuming I had hurt him. She pulls me inside the house by my hair, kicks me in the balls HARD, and throws me onto the floor.
Mind you I wasn’t even 10 years old yet. She makes me kneel on the hardwood floor for hours praying that I wouldn't be such a bad child, asking for forgiveness. Meanwhile, my nephew, still in tears, tries to tell her I didn't do it, but she wouldn't listen to him. If that’s not a ton of BS, I’m not really sure what is.
21. Respect My Authority!
I never got in trouble in school. Then, third grade, I was constantly in trouble and I never knew why. Fourth grade back to never being in trouble. I’m an only child and grew up speaking to adults and them speaking to me like they would anyone else. So, when I spoke to this teacher, I talked to her like I would my parents. Turns out she thought it was disrespectful that I spoke to her as an equal and not an authority figure. To this day I’m still a bit salty about it. Bunch of BS.
22. Poppin’ Off
I had a cousin who would bite anyone just for the fun of it. Her mom would tell everyone not to punish her because her three-year-old was just a child and didn't understand what she was doing. So, all of us kids would get bite marks on our arms or face and couldn't do anything about it. Except one day when I decided I had enough.
Now, I was the kind of child that never got into trouble, would play by myself for hours, and got along with pretty much everyone. The parents knew this and didn't expect my reaction when baby devil teeth tried to go for my hand because I wouldn't let her destroy my domino stack. Without hesitation, I slapped her right on the mouth—it made a popping sound.
It wasn't too hard, just enough to surprise her. She cried a lot. Her mom didn't say a word. The other parents were cheering internally. The biting stopped after that moment. Some adults really suck at parenting.
23. Mr. Audiobook
My dad is really into computers and has been for a long time. He bought a ton of books about different programs, coding, etc. When I used to get in trouble, he made me sit next to his desk and read those books to him out loud while he continued working on whatever he was working on. One chapter for little stuff and it went up to four if I really ticked him off.
24. The Old Wet Eye
Before me and my family were stable and had our own home, we lived with our aunt Betty. My aunt Betty was a nice lady and all, but she claimed to have visions from God so that made me worry even when I was eight. One night while I was sleeping, my sister put in a movie called Carrie and my aunt Betty turned on the TV to see the menu select screen and assumed with no evidence it was me.
She told my mom to punish me and seeing as we didn't have anywhere else to go, I ended up getting woken up with a butt whooping. On a different occasion, I was taking a nap outside on a couch swing and my aunt Betty flipped out of nowhere saying that I pinned my sister down and licked her eye. Really strange, I know.
My sister was inside watching TV in the living room at that time, so she was at the opposite end of the house. Even with actual evidence that I didn't do anything I still got whooped and grounded because she had complete control. That's not all the junk I had to go through while living with aunt Betty but that's all the stuff that didn't happen in church.
25. He’s an Outdoor Kid
I remember one summer where I didn't clean my room, so my mom said I wasn't allowed in the house during daylight hours. I had to stay out in the backyard and only come in to use the bathroom or eat/drink. I would keep coming in for drinks and eventually, my mom got sick of it, so she started bringing me food every couple hours and keeping a pitcher of Kool-Aid on ice on our picnic table.
It was BS because I was supposed to stay outside, but I wasn't allowed to play with friends or anything. I also had to deal with my brother taunting me with his daily bike rides, trips to the party store for candy, and Nintendo playing. This lasted for a couple weeks once she realized that nobody wanted to babysit me under those conditions and leaving me alone in the house would negate her punishment.
26. Bad For the Badge
When I was 11 years old the boys in blue pulled a piece on me. It was when I was late for school because I missed the bus here in Los Angeles. They stopped me, cuffed me, slammed me up on the hood, and one of them searched through my backpack while the other pointed his piece right at me. They didn’t find anything, of course. I started crying because I was a good kid and didn’t understand, and they told me to shut up or they’d detain me for truancy.
This happened as I was about a block away, walking towards school. After it was clear that I didn’t do anything they put me in the back, drove the half block or so up to my middle school, and brought me into the office in cuffs. Then I got a lecture about why truancy is bad and was sent to class. Probably not my first experience with any form of BS, but definitely the earliest memorable one.
27. Where’s Your Patriotism, Comrade?
I lived in a communist country in central Europe. When I was six years old, I played with some newspaper: there were photos of politicians and I drew on their faces, making horns and stuff. Just making fun of them. When my father saw the newspaper, he said, "We can get put away for that!" I was wondering: "I am just a child and I am playing here, making fun: How come this could lead to detainment?" Thank God the country is not communistic anymore.
28. Too Bad to Repeat
I remember when I was in third grade I was playing with the magnet letters on a whiteboard, just messing around not spelling anything. A teacher came to me halfway through class after I had lost interest and told me that I had spelled a bad word on the board. Cue an all-day Kafka festival where I was dragged around the school by different teachers while also not being told what I had spelled on the whiteboard. To this day I have no idea what I did wrong. Screw you Mr. L, I thought you were cool.
29. Wounded and Wound Up
In school, I guess somewhere around seventh grade, I got into some trouble and the teacher was going to slap me. My hands moved involuntary to shield it and apparently my nails scratched off on her palm. Ended up being taken to the principal for scratching the teacher and she showed her "wound" to the principal and also my parents who were asked to visit for this absolute BS.
30. The Chosen One
My mom left us when I was two, which was fine. The BS part was when she remarried to a man who had wealth, lawyered up, and came back for us kids. Like, I didn’t even know this woman and all of a sudden I have to go live with her, out of state, and be torn away from my father? She got her way, too. But there’s a catch.
There were four of us siblings and she only wanted two. Years later, she told me she "chose me"‘ because her new husband thought I looked more biologically similar to him and thus people would think I was his "real child". So, off I went to be severely neglected for the next 12 years of my life. The new guy worked hard to try to eradicate my dad from my life completely.
Found out as a teen that he would open my cards, letters, and packages my dad would send me and remove cash, gifts, etc. and sometimes I wouldn’t even get the card. Then he would say things like, your "dad" never writes you because he doesn’t care about you anymore. My mom divorced that guy when I was 16. 10 years too late but it is what it is.
I was out of there the minute I turned 18. I was SO excited to finally get a chance to make up for some lost time with my dad, but he had a sudden and completely unexpected heart attack and passed instantly. I was 19. It was a Sunday and we always talked on Sundays. Ironically, both my mom and her second husband are alive and well that I know of.
You can’t choose the cards that are dealt to you. Sometimes no matter how hard you try to win or want to win, those around you keep getting better cards. Meanwhile life keeps dealing you a 2,7. My whole childhood was just one big pile of BS, but I’m much happier now. I’m rich in dogs and books and art and surround myself with people who are just the best people.
31. Fluid Rules
We had a trivia contest in sixth grade for all 100+ of us. It was single elimination, but then as too many people got eliminated it was changed to three strikes, then back to single elimination. It was BS for those who got knocked out early during single elimination, and BS for me being knocked out during the second part of single elimination while other classmates had a strike or two. I wouldn't have won, because the final question for the last two students was ridiculous for eleven-year-olds, but I should’ve been top 5 at least.
32. Making a Martyr
When I was in the fifth grade a bunch of kids were being teased and hurt by a few kids, at most while playing kickball, basketball, and the like. This went on for a while, and so, rather than deal with the people teasing others, the teachers decided to ban all competitive games on the recess yard. Needless to say, this caused a bit of a fuss when they announced it at lunch, right before we went out to recess.
A friend and I hatched a plan. When we got out to the yard, ahead of the teachers, we gathered several of our friends and stood shoulder to shoulder, glaring at the mean head-teacher, the one in charge of the recess yard for the day. As we hoped, she got the message that we were none too pleased with the decision and told us to disperse, lest we incur punishment.
Our first battle lost, we retreated. As we had conducted our peaceful protest, a more militant faction of students had taken to chanting and marching around the recess yard, following a banner made from a stick and a jacket. There were probably 120-150 kids in our grade, and at least 90 of them were following the banner after 10 minutes.
This really freaked out the teachers, who were faced with the prospect of a total uprising. The protest was still completely peaceful and relatively organized, all we wanted was the right to play games at recess. The head-teacher stood her ground when the mass of kids came around the corner of what was probably their fifth or sixth lap around the yard.
She took the banner down and proceeded to chew everyone out for being "hooligans" and "disrupting the students working inside". She forced the protest to disband and told everyone to line up to go inside. When we were all lined up, she told everyone who hadn't been a part of the protest to go inside and the rest to stay so she could talk to them.
Of the around 90 students who participated, perhaps 20, at best, owned up to what they did. The rest snuck back inside to escape punishment. I had not heard what she said, and when I tried to ask, I was silenced without an answer. The boy next to me told me to stay put and, like an idiot, I listened. It is important to note that, while I was the ringleader of the first protest, I personally had next to nothing to do with the second, larger protest—the one they were actually mad about.
In that I was but an observer, sticking close to see what would happen, but not playing nicely like the "good" children. The head teacher called out all of our classroom teachers to tell them what we had done. I sat there in disgust as the realization that I had been tricked into being blamed for something I did not do sunk in.
Two of the three classroom teachers let their students go back inside without punishment, cutting it down to perhaps five children left outside. My teacher took down all of our names and told us to report to her at recess the next day. When I tried to explain my role in the events to her, she essentially told me that she was sorry I had made poor choices, but that I had been standing out there, so I had obviously had something to do with the protest and was lying to her.
I was made to write a demeaning "letter of apology" to the head-teacher in which I explained why I was wrong and why I was sorry. I was smart enough not to write the truth that A. I had nothing to do with organizing the second protest, and B. we had a right to protest the removal of everyone's privileges over only a few people's actions. I looked it up in the Bill of Rights that night, just to be sure.
Instead, I wrote that I was oh-so sorry for worrying her and making her day difficult and that—I still remember the line—"if there was anything I could do to make it up to her, she should not hesitate to ask". I got out with half that day's recess left, suffering only 15 minutes incarceration and a bruised ego, a relatively small punishment. I still think it's BS.
33. The One System to Rule Them All
When I failed algebra 101 not because I didn’t get the answers right. I got perfect marks on the math. I failed because I didn't record my assignments in my school assigned planner. The teacher audited that at the end of the year, and it was supposed to be like 40% of our grade. Didn't need a planner, especially not the piece of garbage spiral bound thing our school handed out. I had my own system, and had to repeat a garbage class with a garbage teacher because I didn't change to a system that worked.
34. Playing In the Dark
I lived in Taipei, Taiwan until I was about five years old and the punishments are much harsher in school than they are here and getting hit was a common occurrence. One day I was playing with some toys that we were not allowed touch, was late coming in from recess, and also managed to tear a hole right in my uniform. This ticked my teacher off, who was a real jerk most of the time, off.
As punishment, I was forced to stay overnight at school in the dark along with another kid who had peed in his pants earlier in the day all by ourselves. Yes, it’s definitely a harsh punishment that wouldn’t fly elsewhere. We ended up just playing with toys all night after the initial trauma of being left all alone wore off.
35. It’s a Trap!
When I was in middle school this kid on the bus told on literally everyone who sat in the back for harassing him. We honestly didn't, and he antagonized us constantly. I was one of the ones who got singled out. His mom started going around the neighborhood to confront everybody’s parents. On the way this older kid named Brett, who is normally a harasser, was suddenly really nice to me.
He came to warn me, and was all, "I'll help you get away from her," and all this garbage. Me and him walked around the whole neighborhood talking about the situation and how no one really harasses this kid, and he's all like, "Screw her, she's crazy," this and that. Even said he'll come back with me and confront her at my house.
So, we roll up to my house, lady is outside, my mom is outside, I'm freaking out. She accuses me of all this junk, then Brett, freaking Brett, belts out, "HE TOLD ME HE CALLED YOU A HOOKER". Completely random and out of left field, I didn't even use that language at the time, and this lady lost her mind at me. My mom ended up believing me, so it was mostly all good except for the huge awkward neighborhood conversation.
But I will never forgive you Brett, you heaving peace of garbage. I've never been betrayed like that before or since and it was a good lesson in humanity, you jerk little rat. Hope your kids never learn how to read.
36. Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Sandy
When I was eight, I got twenty dollars for making straight As. My dad took us to a park for a cookout. I saw this guy with a chicken foot on a string around his neck and asked him if I could have it. He said he would sell it to me for $2 and I told him all I had was a twenty. He told me he would give me change, then walked off with my twenty.
That was the BS. I was so freaking mad. I told my dad about it and, true to form, he told me I was an idiot and that I needed to find the guy and get my money back. I went back and the guy said if I gave him the foot back, he would give me my money back. He took the foot, hung it back around his neck, patted me on the head, and walked off laughing.
Still had my money. Double BS. So, I waited until he wasn't looking and threw sand all over the food on his grill. Like a LOT of food, some seafood too, and I threw like, three big handfuls of sand on it. I told my dad and he said, "I'm proud of you". And that's when I truly became a vengeful person.
37. One and Done
In sixth grade, we had these "good job" drawings. If you did something good throughout the year, you were given a ticket with "good job" written on it. At the end of the year you'd write your name on all your "good job" tickets and turn them in and there would be this big party in the gym with music and dancing and the principal would draw the "good job" tickets.
If he called your name you got to go up on stage and pick out a prize from all these tables full of prizes. Pretty fun ordeal. After a while, it moved from the big festival that it was to being in the mean old math teacher's class. Her name was Ms. Meek and she was notorious for being really rude. Anyway, I won a drawing and during lunch I went to go pick out my prize.
There wasn't anything I was too interested in, so I just half-heartedly picked out some toy car or something. On my way out I saw something at the last minute that I decided I really wanted. I put down the toy car and headed for it. Before I even had a chance to get to it, Ms. Meek yelled at me and said, "No, no, no, once you pick something, that's it!"
What’s the difference, it’s a cheap little prize? I sighed and picked up the toy car and headed for the door when she stopped me again and made me put that down, while shouting, "No, now you get nothing!" and kicked me out of her class. I never participated in "good job" after that. Not a very good job if you ask me.
38. Money School
The blatant favoritism and corruption that parents used while I was in elementary school. I remember being passed over for representing my school to a choir contest because I'm in the "lower" section and the girl they picked was from one of the top sections. I should explain, in my country each grade/school level is divided into sections/groups and the higher the number, say, 13, is considered a lower section, while the top/higher sections are from 1-3.
Students in these sections are considered to be the "elite" students, the smartest, who made great achievements in school. They're considered the most talented. I should note that not everyone here is talented. A lot of their parents paid the teachers, and maybe the entire school faculty, to have their kids put on said sections because it brings prestige and/or honor to the family.
Please also note that I live in Asia, honor and prestige are pretty big here. Personally, when I found out about it, I really didn't care much, I wasn't really that invested with being in the choir anyways, I just loved singing. And I kind of knew the girl they picked, she's pretty nice and down to earth from what I remember.
My classmates on the other hand were pretty ticked off on my behalf, which made me a little happy even now as I write this down. I have no problems with the girl getting the part, I'm just a little disappointed for being overlooked. But this incident did stick out to me that, just because you have the talent, doesn't mean you'd get things in life.
39. Cat’s Out of the Bag
I had this across the street neighbor named Miranda. I was very young, but she was the first person truly horrible human being that I met in my life. She was a total diva and made every effort to gain the favor of all the parents that lived on my street. Acting like a sweet little thing all the time—always hiding the truth. But I knew the real her.
But away from adult attention, she loved to stir stuff up. Her favorite thing in the world was instigating fights or making up stories to get people in trouble. I'll never forget how I was in her basement, just chilling, and her cute cat comes up to me. I couldn't reach him to pet him, so I pet him with my foot instead. Dumb kid brain came up with that solution.
Well, Miranda sees this, and her first knee-jerk reaction within a femtosecond of seeing my foot near her cat was that I kicked it. She immediately spread this around to every adult on the block who would grant her an audience. For a week or so, I was dealing with the ire of every Karen on the block, bothering my parents about why I was an animal harmer. Eventually, I plead my case enough times that it got straightened out, but Miranda faced no consequences. I'll never forget that smug little...
40. Chuck E. Cheesed About It
One of my earliest memories was my mom baking some pies, I think, and she told me that if I was quiet and stayed in my room, she would take me to Chuck E. Cheese's. She was baking for a lot of hours and I was really quiet. I took a nap, woke up, came out and checked on her, still baking. She told me to take another nap so I did. Finally came out after she was done baking then told me it was too late so we would go another day. She just wanted me to be quiet and stay in my room all day. We never freaking went to Chuck E. Cheese's.
41. The Easy Answer
Driving through the middle of Wyoming with my Grandma and Grandpa, I was probably like, eight. I was looking at the landscape, which has these massive, gorgeous red rock formations that tapered at the bottom. There were stratified lines with all sorts of color. I asked Grandma, "How did those rocks get like that?" and she responded "God put them there". I think that's the precise moment I became an atheist, I felt so shorted and underwhelmed. I knew the real answer had to be much, much more interesting and complicated than that.
42. Caught Mayo Handed
My sister and I used to joke that since we were generally good kids, didn't drink, do bad things, stay out past curfew, etc., that our parents got bored and would just punish us for stupid stuff. My mother grounded me for two weeks because I left the jar of mayo out of the fridge. She has the habit of leaving the milk or cheese out, but I could never say anything. I just had to leave it there to spoil or put it back myself.
43. The Unsung Hero
My grandma's boyfriend was an interesting man. When I was about 10 he tried to convince my siblings and I that he single-handedly ended the cold conflict by being dropped off in the middle of Siberia on a secret mission and he forged a train that ran on snow. He then drove the train to Moscow and did "secret mission stuff" and ended the cold conflict.
44. Just Out of Reach
My parents told me that if I wanted a gaming console, I had to buy it myself. So, I saved for three years, not spending on anything including the one family vacation we ever took. I saved enough to buy it. I got it and some games. I was happy. Once home, I was informed that if I wanted to use it on a TV I had to buy one.
So, again I saved for another year and got a broken one that I fixed. I set it up in my room. I was a responsible student and by this point I was entering high school. The TV and gaming console was removed from my room and put in the family room so my younger brother could use it since "it wasn’t fair" that I had one and he didn’t.
When I complained they banned me from using it. They never paid me back for it, either. When I turned 18, I left and took it with me. Ticked everyone off but I finally got to use it. Also never understood why I always got fed the line, "life isn’t fair" but my brother didn’t. This is the biggest one I encountered and I cannot remember of any before this.
45. All About That Scribble
One of my primary school teachers made about five of us miss a week’s breaks and stay inside because we didn't get a completely empty "homework diary" signed by our parents. It was some initiative the school had where you filled in the stuff you did on each day of the week. I had mine filled in, just not signed, whereas others with empty, signed diaries were apparently more right. She was the only teacher who insisted you had them signed by our parents.
46. A Midnight Meal
It was when I was in preschool. The school got out before lunch, so they didn't have to feed us. My mom came and got me and took me and my younger sister shopping and was planning on getting food while there. But there was an intoxicated driver that hit us head on while we were en-route. After getting us to the hospital we went through several tests which all came back that me and my sister were unharmed besides some minor bruises.
My mom and the intoxicated driver were in worse shape. But the hospital would not let my dad feed me and my sister. In fact, we didn't eat until we got home after midnight. As far as the tests they did on me and my sister showed, there was no reason to withhold nutrients from us, yet they did anyway. It was about 16 hours that they kept a toddler and a baby from eating with no evidence that it was necessary.
47. Detective Teacher
In second grade when I didn’t like my sandwich I threw it out only to have my teacher after lunch pull it out of the trash, stop the entire class, interrogate us, and say: "WELL if no one is going to admit to this, myself and [Insert Assistant Teacher’s Name] are going to go outside and test for fingerprints because we have a fingerprint scanner in our car".
Me being a CHILD was mortified. Maybe she saw it on my face, or someone snitched, but she came back in saying, "They have long brown hair and blue eyes". That was my wanted poster description at seven. She singled me out, made me do a walk of shame to the front of the class, all while crying, to get my agenda so she could write a note to my dad. I get home and what does my dad say? "Sweetie just put what you don’t want back in your lunch pale next time so this doesn’t happen again, I don’t mind". I get that I wasn't good with the sfood, BUT MAN. Still scarred.
48. En-Garde!
Once my neighbor told his mom I threatened to decapitate him with a sword. I was playing with a toy plastic sword in my backyard and he wanted to keep it, so I told him no because it’s mine. He was the definition of trouble child and to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets in real trouble later down the line.
Anyway, he told his mom, who told my mom, who got really mad at me. His mom was telling a very exaggerated story about sharpening a blade. Acted like the sword was metal, that I swung at him as a warning. It was all BS and I expected my mom to ignore it or call her out on it. I was wrong. I was grounded for two weeks and forced to throw the sword away.
It was a cool looking sword and you can clearly tell that it was freaking PLASTIC. I was so mad at my mom for taking the neighbor’s side over her own son, not even giving me a chance to explain my side, knowing the sword was plastic and still making me throw it away, believing such a stupid story, and grounding me because of some stupid, awful kid.
49. Turning a Blind Eye
As the only child with ADHD/other mental illnesses in most of my classes, I was the scapegoat for most students and the teachers. There are countless times where I've been with someone who broke something, touched something they weren't supposed to, so on and so forth... yet I'd be blamed for it because I'm the kid with the behavioral issues.
I would get "told on" for things other kids didn't want to get in trouble for. Fifth grade was good because I had a teacher who truly understood me and my issues and she would know when I needed a break or if I had forgotten my meds. The teacher was, honestly, my idol. She would keep me in groups with my two best friends because she could see I worked harder when I was with them. Both incredibly intelligent people doing great work now-a-days.
Growing up with ADHD made me an easy target for everyone, you get over it eventually but as a kid it tends to make you hate the world. I was very defiant in school because of this. Also, I was teased by the only blind kid at my school and no one believed me because "she's blind, what could she possibly do?" I don’t know, man, maybe beat me with her walking cane for lauhgs? She'd then play the victim, and I would get in trouble.
50. Spawn of Satan
At 12 I probably should have known that people aren’t special, but I was a fairly naive and innocent child. Wanted to believe in the good in everyone. I went to school in a very religious southern state in the US, and it got out that I was an atheist. It started as just "normal" teasing. Rumors, the occasional act of harassment in the bus line.
Then I ran into my main tormentors at a park. There was one of me, five of them. They tried to beat me lifeless with an oar. I ran into oncoming traffic just to escape. I thought that would be the worst of it. I was so, so wrong. I returned to school and within an hour I was called into the principal's office.
I saw the main tormentor sitting there. She would smile this nasty, evil smile at me whenever the adults weren't looking. Turns out, she told the school that I was stalking and attacking her while I was home recovering from the attack she instigated on me. And people believed her. Then she and her friends began posting threats to the school, pretending that I had left them.
Luckily those weren't taken as seriously as they otherwise should have been since the authorities were never involved. There were also rumors that I was a child "entertainer" that almost resulted in a CPS investigation for my parents. On the bus I was getting hurt every day. It went from being punched to having bags full of textbooks and once rocks thrown at me once the bus left the stop.
I eventually became so afraid to go anywhere near those buses that I began walking home four miles every day in the southern heat. I lost what few friends I did have because they were also being targeted. None of them joined in but I also suffered more because of the isolation. The absolute worst part of this, the thing that made me realize the world is full of garbage, was the fact that some of the adults at this school DID believe me.
They told me I deserved it. That I was a Satan worshiper who had brought Satan into their school. That I would be going to the underworld and this was just a taste of what was in store for me. I never trusted again after that. I have agoraphobia that I struggle with. I have a lot of trouble forming meaningful relationships and the ones I have formed mean the world to me.
But at 12 years old, I learned that for the most part people are incredibly bad and that there's no guarantee that someone will do the right thing to protect a child. And it's been screwing up my mental state for years. I've been to therapy and am doing much better than in recent history, but I'm probably never going to recover fully from what happened and I doubt I'll ever feel normal.
Sources: Reddit,
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