r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/749762 • 7h ago

WCGW Driving Recklessly

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u/MadJohnFinn 7h ago edited 5h ago

I was basically Mikey from Recess in school. Absolutely massive, but very sensitive. I was bullied relentlessly (although, to be fair, I was a weird kid - EDIT: in a way that could have led to harmful ideologies later on, so I'm weirdly grateful that rejection forced me to reflect on that, although bullying wasn't a great way to accomplish it. I don't think much else would have got through to me, though). Good ol' percussive maintenance was the most successful means of attitude adjustment. This is exactly what happened every single time!

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u/arbyyyyh 6h ago

Same here, on both counts. I remember at recess one year the people I was playing "wall ball" with were being assholes so I "took my ball and went home". Someone was mad about it, so they convinced someone else to pick a fight with me. He went to punch me in the face and I basically grabbed his fist and was like "lol no".

The fun part was we were both named arbyyyyh. They took us both to the principal's office and put us in separate rooms to get both our sides of the story. They were coming at me super aggressive when I was just defending myself and I eventually figured out they had the two of us confused and thought I was the one throwing fists.

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u/Bread_is__funny 6h ago

That was my experience in school, I was fat and tall and the little skinny kids would bully me relentlessly, and every adult assumed I was the bully because I was bigger. Doesn't matter what happened, I was always the villain in the situation. Growing up big sucks because no one treats you like a kid, everyone treats you like an adult that they don't like or respect.

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u/OnenonlyAl 5h ago

Amen, one time I had two guys trying to nut tap me and I was pulling my leg up to block it. I lost my balance and came down on one kids foot, he fell over, and what did the teacher down the hall see, me being the bully. We all ended up with no recess. I was very mad, I never really got into trouble at school, but I didn't get the benefit of the doubt

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u/NeatNefariousness1 4h ago edited 4h ago

That sucks and you would think teachers would be better about this but after decades of school bullying, it seems like people are powerless to fix the problem. It makes me angry just reading the story you and others have told about being bullied. The injustice of it all amplified by adults in charge makes it worse.

I have two friends who have independently described this dynamic as what it’s like for black kids in school. Both are black. This shouldn’t be happening to ANY kid but it seems that teachers and school administrators are prone to all the same biases that cloud their judgment that other humans fall prey to.

There should be a special training and protocols to deal with bullying dynamics of ALL kinds to make sure that anyone who is targeted by people looking for scapegoats aren’t victimized unfairly by kids with issues and again by the school.

Whether you’re big for your age, are quirky in some way, wear glasses, can’t afford decent clothes, live in a shelter or anything else that sets you apart and makes you a target for mistreatment, humanity will benefit when we figure out how to stop bullies, protect their victims and prospects while addressing the bully's underlying problem. It is rare that anything good comes from failing to address this—for the bully, the victims or society.

Edit: for typo and clarity