It’s sad, but true…
A lot of kids have to deal with bullies for one reason or another when they’re growing up.
And every bullying story is different…
Let’s hear from AskReddit users who were nice enough to go on the record about why they were tormented when they were younger.
Brutal.
“Glasses, red hair, and freckles.
Opie, Howdy Doody, and red-headed step child jokes all the way through school.”
Small town.
“Grew up ostracized and constantly harassed for being “different”.
Didn’t know what that meant, or what I could do to “fix” it.
Turned out I was just autistic and effeminate in a small ’90s town.
Held back in kindergarten for it, so that coupled with delayed development meant I was simultaneously the oldest and smallest of two grades, which was just great.”
Awkward.
“I was socially awkward.
I also was really motivated to be liked.
I did a lot of things trying to be liked that in hindsight, made people not like me.”
You name it.
“Weight, acne, hygiene, voice, you name it!
That was about 20 years ago in high school, but that bullying cut deep and the emotions I felt during those times still feel as fresh as they did back then when I think about it.”
Vicious.
“Being a girl with dark body hair and a small chest.
Girls are vicious.”
Idiots.
“Bringing Indian food as a packed lunch to school. By some whites. In Britain.
Where Indian food is one of the most widely consumed foods in the country. A lot of whites eat Indian food. They were complete dips**ts.”
No reason at all.
“Absolutely no f**king reason.
We used to have a 10 min “contact” class before the first class. It basically was to get signed off, then off you go to our first class of the day. Contact was also the only “class” that had people from other years in it. The rest of the day was normal classes with people from your year only in them.
There was this kid, Daniel, who was a year or two older than me. I didn’t know him. I didn’t talk to him. I didn’t see him outside contact. I didn’t know any of his friends or hang around anyone he knew. You get the idea… I only saw him in Contact and I had nothing to do with him at all.
Daniel decided to pick on me, for absolutely no f**king reason. He’d shit talk me and I’d just ignore him. He was just an asshole to me, and I didn’t even know why.
One day he decided to grab my bag, opens it up, grabs my change of clothes for PhysEd (Sports) and throws them up into the air into the ceiling fan that was spinning around, sending my clothes all over the place.
What the f**k, Daniel?!
Something like 20 years later I was doing a computer job for a woman and it turns out she’s his sister. I mentioned how he used to pick on me and I never even knew why as I didn’t have anything to do with the guy. I said he was a real a**hole to me.
She looks at me and goes “He’s married with kids now and it’s a really nice guy. You know what, he wouldn’t even remember doing that to you back then anyhows.”
I remembered. I never fucking forgot. It was a little thing, but it made me always think about how I treat people, even if it meant nothing to him and he forgot like it was nothing.”
Harsh.
“Being anorexic.
My school nickname was Skelly and whenever I used to not eat they would say I was wierd/call me names. When we watched an anorexia video in the health ed classes they all laughed asking who recorded me. The girl d**d.
I eventually found an abandoned loo and stayed there during meals. The teachers didn’t notice or care and I lost 3 stone in a year. My parents eventually cottoned on and pulled me out.”
Not a hugger.
“I was bullied for not wanting to hug people.
My mother in law and sister in law hated me since the first day I met them because I told them I was not a hugger. They started gossiping within the family and friends that I was conceited, weird and selfish. They even called and texted my husband many times to tell him to start “wearing his pants” and force me to visit them and hug them and kiss them on the cheek.
This went on for years!! Apparently they are big time huggers and kissers. Anyway the bullying got so bad, we just stopped visiting. I learned a lesson though, never let anyone bully you into changing who you are. Like my husband told me, “if I wanted a hugger I would have married a hugger”.”
Overly confident.
“Being over confident at my first school at first, then I’m not sure why they continued after they broke me down, they’d keep going, eventually it got physical then I left.
Next school, I was an early “developer”, girls didn’t like it, guys would harass me. I’d get made fun of just for having panic attacks. Two schools later, I was more outspoken, I’m naturally loud, social media made it worse.”
Four eyes.
“My crooked teeth and coke bottle glasses as I’m severely nearsighted…
Got contacts so that eliminated one issue, but the dental care I need to fix my crooked teeth is so expensive I’ll probably die never knowing what it is to talk, smile or laugh without feeling super self conscious.”
Do you have any stories like this?
If so, sound off in the comments.
Thanks a lot!
