
Everyone believes they have a calling.
It's good to have that passion. But sometimes it can be a universal miscommunication.
There are people out there that believe wholeheartedly that they are destined for the profession they are in and that is simply not true.
One of our most important life careers is being an educator.
But we really need to weed out those that are not up to par.
Redditor Not_JackMania wanted to discuss the educators you've been effected by, in not the best ways by asking:
"Dear students of Reddit, what the worst teacher you've ever had?"
"Well let me give you a cookie."
"A math teacher that also worked with the cheerleaders. The teacher gave EXTREMELY preferential treatment to the cheerleaders. They got out of class anytime for any reason. No homework on their menses (we all knew because they would tell the teacher directly while in class), but the other girls in class would complain about not receiving the same treatment. The teacher was highly disorganized and rarely actually TAUGHT anything, it was mostly 'Do this page in class, do this page for homework.'"
"She would gather the cheerleaders at her desk during class for little pow-wows on hemp lotion (MLM in school I kid you not). Went in one day after struggling on problems and said, 'Look I figured it out."'Her response? 'Well let me give you a cookie.'"
"Got sent to detention for telling her to screw herself. She also called me out twice in class for being a Pagan. She really liked to harp on that. Later on she was fired for having sex in her classroom (not with a student though). Vindication at last. I hope she never works with school aged children again."
XxVerdantFlamesxX
From the Book....
"High school in the mid 80s. I took the school's first ever computer class, taught by the gym teacher. She read straight from the book. If the book was wrong (and it was wrong a lot) then she was wrong and we had to answer wrong on the test or fail."
mordeci00
Yes She Can.
"Grade 9 science teacher told us that physics and chemistry used to be harder but they had to make the subjects easier so that girls could do it."
Jambi420
Mr. T got busted.
"In HS the top three crappy teachers were Mr. T, whose freshman daughter walked in on him banging his senior TA. 2nd was Mr. B, who would chug vodka from a chemistry flask, stagger out of the supply closet, put on a nature film, and pass out on the back counter and snore louder than the movie. When the bell rang, we just got up and went to our next class with him still snoring away."
"Lastly, Mr. R, who would go out to his car between classes to get baked, then come back in and spend the entire class hitting on senior girls. Mr. T was fired on the spot and was replaced by a substitute, the other two were fired a few years later I heard. There were other crappy teachers (both male and female) there who were also rumored to be banging students that quietly got jobs elsewhere right after Mr. T got busted."
Penelepillar
It's Just a B.
"I had a teacher who gave me a D when I was in 1st grade. I was 6 years old. I then had this teacher again in 4th grade. She nearly failed me. These were my only grades below a B, but this teacher had me believing that I was genuinely stupid for the majority of my time in elementary school. I was extremely discouraged and essentially decided school had no value to me."
"I finally learned to value school after working terrible jobs (landscaping, McDonalds, etc). I paid my way through college and eventually graduated summa cum laude. I give no credit to a teacher who makes a child believe he is stupid. That is the opposite of the role of an educator."
yikyakresurrection
Forget you, Mrs.Blume.
"Locked me in a cardboard box a la Matilda on a weekly basis, kept me in every recess, screamed at me every day in front of the class, calling me stupid and yelling at the rest of the class not to act like me."
"I had add and was suicidal at the time, and was already socially ostracized because I was much poorer than most of my peers. I was 8. Forget you, Mrs.Blume. You're the reason why every time I see a 'teachers are the best human's stuff it makes me want to punch a wall. I hope you get stomach cancer and die alone and scared."
EmergencyLychee
"sun people and moon people"
"My 1st grade teacher was extremely racist. She practiced something called 'sun people and moon people' that she read in some book. She made half the class sun people and half the class moon people. The sun people consisted of all the African American kids in the class and some of the white females."
"The rest of the class were the moon people. The sun people got to have privileges like extended recess, bathroom breaks, were not required to pick up after themselves, and were treated with respect."
"The moon people had to come in early from recess and 'tidy up' the classroom, were not allowed bathroom breaks, and were treated very poorly. I remember one day a boy had an accident (because he wasn't allowed to use the bathroom all day) and she completely lost it. I remember her screaming, 'Uh-uh. You are not going to pee on my floor! You are disgusting! Moon people, clean this pee off my floor.' And she made all us 'moon kids' get on the floor with spray cleaner and paper towels and clean the floor. We had a new teacher the next day."
TalullahandHula33
Hands Off my Stuff....
"My early primary school English language teacher. She was generally rude to everyone, but she hated my guts especially because I spoke better English than her and she always marked me wrong for spelling words the British way instead of the American way, even though she knew they were still correct. She would confiscate my personal belongings for no reason and refuse to give them back."
"I still remember this one time I was fiddling with my collection of silly bandz (I had nearly fifty) under the desk, and after confiscating them, she refused to give them back to me because she'd, quote 'already mixed them in with all the other ones I've taken, and as I don't know which ones are yours, I won't be giving them back.'"
"This was said several days later after I'd still not gotten them back and my parents had gone up to confront her about it. My 8-year-old self was heartbroken. She was fired several years later."
QuirkyPheasant
Get to Therapy...
"7th grade; mans didn't understand the concept of 'this kid is seriously depressed, let him go to therapy halfway through class' he didn't think I was actually depressed because I was always smiling (fake smile) he would give me detentions without my knowledge while i was at therapy, and refuse to give me the work/instruction that was said during half the class period that I was at therapy; he would give me Cs when I would actually make As. he would call me out/use me as examples (not the biggest fan of unwanted attention)."
"The man literally had a lecture about how kids can't get depressed because they don't have to deal with adult hardships because of me, and it was basically 10 slides of situations and sentences taken out of context, he finished with a picture of me (using me as an example) and said I was faking for attention and an excuse to skip class. I stood up and said all the reasons I've been diagnosed with severe depression, none of which were listed in his lecture."
Mrs. Benson Blues.
"Third grade teacher. I had ADHD undiagnosed at the time (later formally diagnosed) and she hated my guts. I never understood it, she would constantly call me out and be overly cruel. She also almost made me pee my pants because she wouldn't let me go. She once made me sit on a big carpet and look up a word I had said in a dictionary, for over an hour."
"When I said I couldn't find it, she yelled in my face that then I shouldn't say it. I loved school before then, but I severely declined after that and it wasn't until adulthood that I began to love learning again. She'll never see this, but screw you, Mrs Benson."
eldritchhues
On the flip side....
"Not currently a student, but when I was, I had a first grade teacher who--whenever she caught me chatting with another student when I was supposed to be listening--would yank on my ear."
"On the flip side, in 10th grade I was in the hospital for a few weeks. Once I returned to school, my Language Arts teacher stayed after school every day to help me catch up until I was back on track with the other students in the class."
HoloGalaxy
Not Cute.
"Substitute teacher for my astronomy class. She was old fashioned and her punishments were a little outdated. I came late to class because I was doing a yearbook assignment and had a slip from my teacher that explained why I was late. We had just done a quiz and they were done but she hadn't collected it. She accused me of cheating and then made me sit outside the classroom to do the test."
"She then went back inside and gave out a new assignment. She said everyone in that classroom was being awful and made them stay for lunch. She sent me to the principals office and my class walked out on her. I had a really sweet guy and a few of my friends come in to defend me. It doesn't really seem that bad looking back on it now but at the time she was not pleasant."
hatertator9000
Love a PowerPointer!
"My current professor in my nursing program. My cohort is made of of 74 students and we all have her for the same class. Not one person has anything positive to say about this woman. During lecture she only reads the PowerPoint slides as they are without elaborating or teaching about the subjects of the slides. She then tries to relate what the topic of the slides are to her clinical experience in the hospital."
"But her stories are convoluted, distracting from the actual topic, and very off tangent. She basically talks about herself as gods gift to anyone who has had her as a nurse. She it by far the biggest narcissist I have ever encountered. I have never met anyone who has thought so highly of themselves before."
"When it comes time for her exams, many students do very poorly because the material on the exams are often not covered in her lecture. There is almost zero relation of what she says in class and the questions she asks on the exam. Reading the chapters multiple times has proven to be an ineffective method in preparation for her exams. When students go to her office hours for help, she never gives any rational to any answers on exams or slide questions."
"She says to read the book. Many of us question her knowledge of the subject she is teaching. It becomes suspect when not even a theory can be given. I understand the concept of students learning on their own, but she can't even point the ones seeking help in the right direction. On a side note, she claims she can smell a patient bleeding internally. Internally?!"
Cirebt
You'll Fail.....
"Neutron physics professor. When we asked what the best way to study for the test was, he said to take the test since we would all end up failing the first time anyways. And he averaged the tests so we could theoretically never get an A unless we guessed right and studied exactly what he would test on. BTW this is for grad school which means that anything lower than a B can get you kicked out."
TreckZero
She was just a terrible human.
"My 2nd Grade teacher. I always had terrible penmanship, but we had to write a report on a book about an animal. I picked penguins. The next day she called me up in front of the class. She said my report was so bad and illegible that she was going to have to tell the principal and that I was going to be expelled."
"From 2nd grade. I bawled my eyes out because I thought I was going to never be allowed to go to school again and knew I'd get whooped when I got home. She told a 2nd grader that he was going to get kicked out of school because of penmanship. She was just a terrible human."
Incidentalomatous
The Inviscid.
"Fluid dynamics professor. On an exam he had a true/false section. +1 for correct, -2 for wrong or empty."
Q"uestion whatever:"
"An inviscid fluid means it has zero viscosity. About 2/3 of the class marked true. He marked it wrong for everyone because "you only assume a fluid is inviscid." I sent him scans from the textbook, the Merriam Webster dictionary definition, and the Oxford dictionary definition. He would not budge for anyone. Some of my aero friends laughed at the dude."
SteevyT
Hey Mrs. Johnson...
"Fourth grade. My glasses broke but not to big of a deal bc I sat in the front row. She moved me to the back of the class. She would write assignments on the board and wouldn't read it off. Told the girl next to me she was NOT allowed to tell me what it said and told me my parents needed to get my glasses fixed. I couldn't make my parents do that.. it was rough. Hey Mrs Johnson... forget you. It's been 24 and this still upsets me."
TheMudbloodSlytherin
Bless you Father...
"For context. I went to catholic school in 90s'. In 7th grade, there was this kid named Patrick that was a little "slower" than the rest of us. The teacher hated Patrick, mildly bullied him whenever possible. I don't remember what the trigger was, but one day the teacher just lost his mind and sort of half choked, slammed Patrick up against the chalkboard. Lifting him completely off the ground."
Icedcoffeeee
Mr. Roided.
"Gym teacher in high school. Roided up and dumb as a rock. Refused to sign off on doctors notes students would bring in to be excused from gym class. Which was interesting when he did it to a girl on crutches. To this day one of the biggest fools I've ever encountered."
"Or the math professor I had in college who was a brilliant guy and had degrees and awards coming out his butt but he was a God awful teacher and had less than zero people skills. That class was absolutely brutal."
OtherAcctWasBanned11
Ozzy!!!
"Health and safety teacher, late 50s early 60s maybe, he was very much like Ozzy Osbourne, stutter, forget unforgettable things, begin to vacantly stare into space sometimes half way through conversation."
"Worst of all was the contradiction, oh lord. He would say "write this down, this is the best answer/ explanation for this question" then skip 20 mins forward to when he was marking the questions and a melt down would ensue because we wrote the wrong answer and he didn't know where we possibly could of got it from."
UnkleGriff
Who died now?
"In third grade I had a teacher named Mrs. Wilson. My grandpa had died that year and I took it really hard. Couldn’t focus in school. Broke down and started crying in class because I missed him. My parents took me out of school for a week to collect everything and calm everything down. When I returned to school Mrs Wilson had the audacity to say to me “you’ve been gone for a week. Who died now?'"
"Evil."
TyTyFloweFlowe28
"making him feel bad"
"My fifth grade teacher threatened to suspend me because I openly stated I didn't want to be partners with my bully, and according to her I was 'making him feel bad' despite him also wanting nothing to do with me. F**k you Mrs Young. She was only in her like 3rd year of teaching and was already a *itch."
llamalex133
“yes, but then you get a B”
"In 8th grade, first week of school, art class. The teacher introduced herself, admitted she wasn’t an art teacher and only took the job for extra money, and told the class if they wanted an A they had to copy a piece out of an art book. Another student asked if they could create their own piece, and the teacher replied 'yes, but then you get a B.' I dropped out the same week and did homeschooling. I am now studying fine arts in College, with much more qualified instructors!"
aaanomy333
Gross
"Had a high school Spanish teacher who had big fake breasts and she played favorites with everyone. If you kissed her a** and were one of the cool kids, good grades. If you were weird or not into her, she failed your a**."
LonelyPauper
Nasty
"Math teacher. He told me in front of the class that I was too stupid to get my degree."
lenivetzzz
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And there are just as many grievances for which we are not at all sorry.
Curious to hear about people's track record of their questionable behavior, Redditor NanoPKx asked:
"What is something bad you have done with no regrets?"
Is it petty theft or flat out stealing? You decide.
The Parting Gift
"'Forgetting' to bring back a company ipad after they forgot about me having it. Actually they never asked for it back so I still have it and use it."
– Koetjeka
Furry Companion
"I stole a barn kitten while delivering packages for FedEx. He kept climbing my legs and getting into the van, sitting under the wheel when I tried to back out (it was a steep driveway, no way to swing the van around). I called the number on the package, looked the name up on facebook, called the local non-emergency to get contact info, all failed."
"So I took him. Now, if you're not from a rural environment, you might not understand that barn cats like that are 'no-man's-cats.' For all the owners know, he got sick or got got by a coyote. And he would have died, because when we got him to the vet he had a nasty upper resp infection and some other nasties."
"Now, one deformed nasal passage and the cutest snore later, we have a bonkers little orange cat with the heaviest penchant for snuggling I've ever seen (his name is Monty btw)."
"Edit: I forgot to pay my Cat Tax: https://imgur.com/a/HIXS4us"
"Edit Part 2: Monty loves the attention. Thank you for loving him as much as we do :3"
"MmmmMMMMRrrrrrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW" -Montgomerey Valentine, 2022
– SonOfSkinDealer
The Dirty Treat
"A housemate of mine kept eating mine and my girlfriends food and even though I asked him to stop the only thing he would ever say is 'I thought it was mine' then keep eating it."
"Well I bought my girlfriend some ice cream she really enjoys and she put the half she didn’t finish back in the freezer. Well when she want to get the rest it was gone and it made me madder than I think it probably should have."
"The very next time I saw him and somehow keeping a straight apologetic face I told him how he accidentally ate our sex ice cream and that bits of it had been on our parts etc. I told him I felt guilty not to tell him and that I had to apologise for him to eat such a thing."
"I will never forget the face he made when I told him. A face of pure self disgust and shock to which all he had to say was 'I wish you never told me that' and proceeded to move out around a month later."
"Although he didn’t actually eat sex ice cream, like why the f'k would you put it back after use anyway? Sometimes I wonder if I went to far but in that moment I just did not care at all. He still doesn’t know it isn’t true and I’ll probably never see him again."
"F'k you Vitas buy your own food."
– SpicyDolphin74
Vengeance is sweet.
Payback Time
"A drunk driver hit my parked car, left a huge dent in the front driver’s side door, and then drove away. I happened to be looking out the window at the time and saw the whole thing, including his plate number. Cops got there not long after and took my statement. After a couple days and a couple phone calls, I found out nothing was going to come of it because he was the son of the sheriff the next county over."
"Fast forward a couple months, I see his car parked behind a local bar within walking distance of my apartment. I got out my hunting knife and sliced all four of his tires, and made a couple trips around it destroying the paint job. Yellow Pontiac Sunfire, and I still remember the goddamn plate number even after almost 20 years."
– IgnoreMe304
For The People
"I was a GM for a retailer that was going out of business. During the liquidation I let my employees that worked until the end store product they wanted to buy in a closet I claimed I didn't have a key to. Oh the final days I sold them all the items they requested for 95% off. 70" tvs, ipads, gaming laptops whatever they requested."
– Midnights606
Surreptitious Swap
"Years ago I worked for a wealthy dude who was married to someone semi-famous. He would waltz in every morning and talk about the fantastic dinner he had the night before, how he hung out with some other famous person or whatever else."
"He paid me peanuts. I had a hard time making ends meet."
"I was the office assistant and IT guy. So it comes time to get a new computer for one of the designers. I spec something out, and show it to him. It was a ripper of a machine for the time (early 2000s). But it wasn’t expensive enough for bossman."
"So I added a really high end graphics card. Boss was happy then. The card added nothing for the designer: they only did illustrator and photoshop."
"So I came in that weekend and swapped the graphics card for my aging one from home."
"No one ever knew. Or cared. And I got a new graphics card."
– Dudeinairport
When times are tough, people had to do what it took to survive.
T.P. Crisis
"In college I was so poor I would steal toilet paper from the supply closet in our major building."
– Business_Loquat5658
Hungry College Buddy
"I stood watch for a college friend who was going hungry because he’d been disowned and his roommates had made living with him intolerable after he came out."
"I was loosely affiliated with an off campus program with local churches that gave free student dinners on Thursdays. We would go to church to eat, then bring dishes into the kitchen."
"Anyway, he would go in there and steal stuff like peanut butter, literal bread (not an allegory), granola bars etc. while I watched out for the pastor."
"Eventually we both got caught, the pastor for the college students got a bit mad because he was responsible for us while we were there to eat. And I think it was offensive on some level to steal from church. But then he saw what my friend was taking, and asked him if he had enough to eat. My friend shamefacedly said no, not usually."
“'Okay, fine. Put the food back, and come with me.' Took my friend grocery shopping instead, got him connected with the food pantry and community garden at church instead."
– SchnarchendeSchwein
Based on these examples, people didn't twice about their actions in the heat of the moment.
Within reason, we all gotta somehow get by.
But do you think their actions deserve punishment?
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When a person sees someone they care about going through a struggle or crisis, their instinct is to uplift them with positive advice.
But sometimes, the wisdom imparted by friends isn't always helpful or relevant to the situation.
Curious to hear from strangers online who could do without specific knowledge, Redditor Saibotnl1 asked:
"What life advice can just f'k off?"

These Redditors have a problem with how certain people have on outlook on life.
Time To Rest
"Sleep when you’re dead."
"Cool, but you’re going to be dead a lot sooner."
– Tag2graff
Irrelevant Sadness
"People have it so much worse than you so don’t be sad!"
– notrachelmar
"To that I like to say, 'people have it so much better than you so don't be happy!'"
– ___jupiter____
Your Life Path
"Almost anything relating to what age you must be in order to buy a house, have children, marry, have a profession, or do anything else. Seriously, everyone's life is different from everyone else's. Make your life the way you want it to be. If you so desire. Up to you."
– Frn071
On The Contrary
“Cheaters never prosper”
"Yes, they f'king do."
– waqasnaseem07
People can get out of any situation they find displeasing.
But others feel people should just "stick it out."
Ignoring Bullies
"Just ignore bullys or get someone else to handle it for you. I have never seen this work, only makes it worse. The only effective way I've seen to deal with them is by not making yourself an easy target and make them scared to f'k with you again. If going psycho on their a** is the only thing they'll respond to that's their fault. Also want to add in schools they will punish you for self defense but that punishment is only sitting around a few hours in detention or sitting around at home with a suspension. The punishment is temporary boredom, it's absolutely nothing compared to being bullied and when it's over the important message will still stand that you will not tolerate being a victim."
– User Delted
Remain to be Miserable
"Stick it out"
"Whether that's sh**ty jobs, shi**y relationships, shi**y living situations..."
"By all means don't just give up on things when you face challenges, but if something feels wrong or is wrecking your peace then take some control and change it if you can!"
– petitezoey
"Easy for you to say," might be an auto-response to these suggestions for many people.
Invitation For Recklesslessness
"Live like everyday was your last"
Yall know what people do when they learn they have a single day left to live?"
– LimeGrass619
A Possible Consequence
"I did that as a teenager and ended up homeless and addicted to heroin. Didn’t pan out for me too well."
"19 years sober though today."
– Open-Section-7263
A Practical Approach
"If I knew with certainty that I had one day left, I'd double-check all my financials, my will, and my insurance policies, make sure my wife had all of my passwords and knew where all the money was, spend the rest of the day with her and the kids, then call the medical examiner and ask to lie down on the gurney so that when I die they won't strain their back moving my remains out of my house."
– Asteriad
Nose Stuck In A Book
"Work while they sleep. Study while they party"
"That's not a recipe for success, that's a recipe for a lot of white hairs, burnout syndrome and a stroke before your 40s..."
– Khomuna
Doesn't Apply To Everyone
"Do what you love and money will follow"
"I love walking my dogs and grilling food for my friends but That sh*t doesn't pay the bills as well as my engineering degree!"
– Elons_android
While people's intentions are good, they're better off keeping their two cents in their own pockets.
Not everyone likes to hear platitudes.
Sometimes, people just want to know they're not alone with their problems over listening to unlikely solutions that are nothing more than superficial pick-me-ups.
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Kids start going to school from the age of five, and for the most part, they spend more time at school than at home. Because of that, teachers can become very important figures in the lives of their students.
Some students don't have the best home lives. Some keep it to themselves, but others confide in their teachers.
Curious about various situations, Redditor Delicious_Mastodon83 asked:
"teachers of reddit what is the saddest thing you found out about a student?"
In Need of Parents
"Not a teacher but was a school-based therapist. Had a student (7 -8 y/o) I didn’t know knock on my office door and ask if I’d adopt her and “if you have room, my brother too, but if not, that’s ok, we can be split up. We’re split up now. And I don’t take up space. I just need a sleeping bag”. Broke my heart."
– secretkpr
Heartbreaking, But Industrious
"My mom taught at a school in a bad neighborhood in Chicago in the mid 90’s. There was a second grader that would save his milk and ketchup packers from lunch for his mom so she had something to eat when she got home from work."
– PowerstrokeMe
Big-Hearted Mom
"Not a teacher but a parent with a 9 year old son. Every day I pack extra in my sons lunch because he tells me he has a friend that never has anything to eat. It's winter and my son came home and told me his friend was turning up with shorts and shirt and holes in his shoes. So I sent in a jumper and long pants for him to wear and some slightly used but good condition shoes. I have been up to the school recently and the teacher pulled me aside and thanked me profusely for helping this child. Apparently teachers are not allowed to aid kids they teach here in Australia and they have already reported the issue 3 times to child welfare without results so I was the only one helping this child. The teacher told me before I started sending in more food and clothes, this child would steal others food from their lunches and look through the bins because he was so hungry. They doubt he gets fed at home. So now I make sure to always send an extra lunch and some school clothes/supplies when I can. I can only hope child welfare eventually does something but it breaks my heart."
– spetzie55
Amazing Big Sister
"It was right after winter break and before class started I was just talking with some students and asked if they got anything fun for the holidays. One girl said on no, I don’t ever get presents, my mom is a drug addict. But I went out and got some stuff for my little sister so that she can have a real Christmas."
"She just said it so matter-of-fact. She was so used to being the parent to her little sister that she didn’t even care about her own childhood. It totally broke my heart."
– tonydanzascaulk
The Importance Of Human Affection
"Second hand story from my mom, elementary teacher for 30ish years. She had a hug or a handshake out the door policy, just some small contact and a proper goodbye, and had this young boy who always picked the hug. She wondered why he always went for it, most kids would go back and forth depending on their mood that day, so she asked him why he was always so excited for the end of day hug? His answer, "It's the only one I ever get.""
– needsawholecroissant
Coming Out The Other Side
"Two teenage boys (16/14) with learning disabilities were on my caseload, they never missed school but often ditched class. They were homeless mid-year after they went home from school to find the locks changed, their Mom had abandoned them for a new boyfriend. She didn't leave an address for them to find her."
"*Edit: both eventually dropped out, however a couple of years later the younger brother came back to visit. He and his brother were both working construction, and his brother had gotten married, had a child, and was living with his wife’s family."
"The younger had roommates and was saving for a car. He told me it was a shame I didn’t have kids, because I would make a good Dad."
"People often persevere, even with the odds stacked against them."
– Kursch50
True Parentification
"Not me but my daughter is a teacher, she has lots of stories but one that stands out for me is one of her kindergarten kids saying she was tired and her asking why, the little girl explained that she had been up all night with her mums newborn baby. She did this every night, fed her bottles and everything."
– lb47513343
Luckily, He Was Resilient
"This year I had a 17 year old kid enroll at my school. He was sitting in my math class and I could tell he was struggling. After class I took some extra time to go over a concept with him. I asked him to read the question to me, and he sat there silently. He then looked at me and said “I’m not going to lie to you, I cannot read. I have no idea how to say these words""
"Turned out at age 17 he was illiterate and had been kept out of school by his very religious, controlling parents. Over the past few months he has worked very hard! Now he can finally read at an 8th grade level and he is STILL improving!!"
– User Deleted
A Heroic Teacher
"I worked in an inner city charter school. One of my students (`M10) had a sib (M8) in a lower grade. The mom was there every day in the beginning of the year encouraging them, helping them and generally being very supportive... until a CPS agent spoke to me asking about her behavior. After CPS left things went downhill. The boys showed up late to class even though they lived a half block away from school. When in school both boys were tired from sleeping in the car while their mom "went fishing". She also had two very young girls which she dragged around making the boys take care of them. One day the boys didn't show up and their teacher walked over to the house to find the mom had loaded up the fridge, paid the rent for the month and abandoned them. The teacher (a candidate for sainthood btw) took them in, adopted them and grew them up to be great men."
– mopedarmy
This is really heartbreaking stuff! Luckily, teachers aren't just another adult in your life; they can be your saving grace as well.
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TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains sensitive content about depression and mental health.
As the stigma around mental health lessens (however slowly), people are more forthcoming about the problems they are facing. One of the most common mental health issues is depression.
Depression can affect many different types of people. Factors such as gender, race, nationality, and even age have no bearing on whether someone suffers from depression or not.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, "...an estimated 3.8% of the population affected, including 5.0% among adults and 5.7% among adults older than 60 years..."
Depression displays in certain patterns, such as mood changes, physical difficulties, and social isolation. However, depression manifests differently in different people and feels different to different people.
Reddit users divulged what depression felt like to them when Redditor iodineseaspray asked:
"What does depression feel like to you?"
Some of this is sure to sound familiar.
The Worst Kind Of Boredom
"Like being more bored than you could imagine but also not wanting to do anything at all, even breathe. So you want to do something, but you can't imagine anything that you would like to do so you're just sort of stuck."
– BuddhistSlater
"So you then spend literally hours staring at a blank wall hating yourself, your life, and everything around you. Well, as much hate as you can summon in the absolutely mentally numb state you find yourself sat in day after day."
– merryman1
Lack Of Motivation and Energy
"Complete lack of motivation."
"Ignoring people that I love, and who are trying to help."
"Just sh*t"
– HatFromStraw
"I feel it extra at work. Letting things slide until you either get into trouble or trying last minute to prevent it."
"Funny those times when I'm working to save my butt, the depression goes away and i feel super focused and motivated."
"I try to carry that energy over but no, it's rinse and repeat."
– ExtraBitterSpecial
Powerful Insecurity
"Insecure about absolutely everything, no hope for the future, dissociation from society and not knowing how to “act” anymore, feeling like I’m not as good at the things I always thought I was good at or that the “talent is wasted on me”, only food cheers me up and sometimes even that doesn’t work"
– tenamonth
Loss Of Creativity
"This. It's like some numb fuzziness you feel in your brain. It's the worst thing ever for an artist who just wants to create but your brain comes up dry with a dense fog that wants to just lie down for a few hours"
– FinnProtoyeen
A Mental Inability To Breathe
"For me, it feels like I’m in a lake with a ball chain tied to my feet, desperately swimming up for air, the only problem is the chain isn’t long enough. I can only get an inch of my head out of the water to breath, and as soon as a high tide comes, the water just floods over me and I feel like I can’t breath again. I live like this, constantly feeling like I’m struggling to breathe, weighed down by my own mind. It’s a struggle and I can’t really describe it in any other way, I’m jealous of people who don’t worry about depression"
– DrowningInBrokeness
"Like suffocating under a heavy cloak"
– kmartfreak
"Like being crushed. Like if the air was crushing my muscles and bones and I can’t breathe because I’m being crushed…"
"Kinda like that."
– Afreshnewsketckbook
Listlessness
"Scrolling thru your steam library. Thinking you want to play something, either not settling on anything or not wanting to put the effort into the game. Going back to the scrolling."
– Aistadar
"It feels like you're forced to play a game of Monopoly (represents life) and your just rolling the dice to appease everyone but you genuinely don't care about where you go, where you land, what you pick up, what you pay, what you gain."
"You kind of just watch it happen without interest and while people are cheering or oh no-ing for you, you genuinely don't care. Everyone is a piece on this board that hardly matters and you feel like we're all just running in a circle over and over again and it's boring and disinteresting as hell."
"You lose all curiosity for everything and just let everything happen and pass by you. No motivation, hardly any love, hardly any care. Feels like the world is in black and white and your waiting for the game to end became it's so absolutely boring and disinteresting, but it never does."
"You come to resent the game and eventually hate it because it feels like you're being forced to play it and suffer it's consequences when you never asked to play it in the first place."
"That's what depression felt like for me. Since then I've been medicated and recieved therapy. I'm doing a lot better now and I don't feel this way anymore, thankfully."
- KnlghtLlghts
A Relation To Fantasy
"You know that scene in the Lord of the Rings where Bilbo is describing to Galndalf what having the Ring all those years felt like? "I feel thin. Like too much jam spread over too much bread." That's honestly the best way I've seen to describe it."
– Electrical_Age_336
"I always say the closest thing to compare it to is a dementor in harry potter. It sucks every ounce of happiness out of you until there is only darkness left."
"Side note: chocolate always helps"
– sunfacer
Fear Of Lack Of Justification
"Like someone close to you died yesterday. Expect no one has, and nothing has happened to justify how you feel."
– AlterEdward
A Physical Pain
"Physical pain in my heart, will start crying just by attending to the physical sensation in my body."
– sagieday
Help Yourself
"I've always described it as having a shadow fixed to your brain which fuels things like indecision and negativity. You can do things to temporarily help but you can't truly shift it. Previous normality is forgotten. But it's amazing how much you can mask it."
"I found I didn't realise how bad I was until I started to get better"
"For anyone suffering with depression. Please, please speak to someone. Best thing I ever did"
– DavosLostFingers
Depression isn't something you can just deal with or get over. Learning to cope is not easy. However, as Redditor DavosLostFingers pointed out, talking to someone can literally save your life.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression, contact the American Psychological Association by phone at 800.374.2721 or 202.336.5500.
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