Bullies are people too. It's difficult to acknowledge that, for sure. When you're the tormented person you don't care, nor do you have to care about why the person torturing you is doing it. The black and white answer is that they have no right, no matter how much pain the are in. But it is nice when down the road people recognize the error of their ways and even make atonement.
Redditor u/MrCleanisagodlybeing wanted the reformed bullies out there to share by asking.... Ex Bullies of reddit, what's your side of the story?
It wasn't me....
She blamed me for stealing a fruit roll up when I didn't. I just happened to have one as well. I got in trouble. My parents were abusive. I got a pretty bad beating that day. I bullied her until I moved away in 10th grade. awwsomedraggin
I didn't know....
Genuinely just didn't know why i was bullying the dude. i thought we were having some friendly horseplay fun every day as i was one of those girls who liked to show off my strength to the boys so they wouldn't call me weak, & then one night over dinner my parents were like "dude his parents told us he complained about u bullying him, what the f**k." needless to say, the "friendly horseplay fun" stopped soon after as i felt completely awful. dementedsockpuppet
Pain Travels....
I bullied some kid in middle school. He was a nice kid but kinda geeky. An easy target in other words. It's no excuse, but I was being tormented by my older brother and my mom refused to do anything to stop him. Anywho, I would pick on him and it wasn't until some teachers and my friends pointed it out to me. I wish I could go back in time and kick my own butt. I actually thought about messaging him on FB to apologize but I chickened out. casino_night
Sorry Aidan....
I think the worst I've ever done was back in 3rd grade. There was a kid who got angry really easily and also lied a lot. Looking back on it I think he was just lonely and had minor anger issues, but my friends and I liked to call him out on his stuff constantly and make fun of him, which obviously only made it worse.
I still feel bad about it and I have no idea where he went after elementary school.
Aidan, if you're out there I'm sorry. From me and the other guys too, we didn't have it particularly good either once middle school started and I know how you feel now. LittleHuzzahGuy
Self-Actualization...
My friends and I used to make fun of and torment the kids who were a bit younger than us who we thought were "annoying." Only looking back we all realized what jerks we were. RekNepZ
**** rolls down hill....
Bullying was systematic in my school - a relic of the English prep school fagging culture. I was part of a continuum. The older boys bullied me, I bullied the younger boys. It was expected.
They've washed that out of the school culture now. A catalyst was a speech by a single student. He stood up in assembly (as School Captain) a few years ago and spoke about his experience of bullying as a gay student. Changed a lot of attitudes. HandsomeLakitu
I need to Eat...
I was being starved at my house regularly by my mother. When you go long enough without eating you get desperate. I was poor but a lot of kids at my school would get money from their parents to buy snacks out of the vending machine. I use to beat kids up and take their money so I could get pop tarts from the vending machine so I could feed myself when my mom wouldn't let me eat.
I was the most hated kid in my school and kids were terrified of me. Before I started beating people up, I tried asking for people to buy me food but they either only had enough for them or told me no, so I did what I had to do to eat. Cannabilistichokie
I was Blind....
I thought everyone hated me, and thought it didn't matter what I did or said. Didn't really realize it was me being a bully, I was young and stupid. I think a lot of it was self centered, thinking that people should have liked me and they when they didn't, leaned really hard into not being liked. Looking back I'm sure there were plenty of reasons I didn't get along with people in the first place, or maybe they didn't hate me and I just couldn't see that. mindovermountains
I wish you well....
She was about 3 years younger and claimed I hit her. I had not. I denied it. I was given detention for a month. The whole thing was odd. The principal every day asked me if I hit her and I kept saying no. My parents kept getting calls about it. My teachers kept asking me. One month of me saying I never stroke her and them asking me again and again to confess. I still can't make heads or tails of it. Detention didn't bother me much. I thought the whole thing was a waste of time.
No idea. I didn't know her well before that and kept my distance for the next few years from her after that. I sometimes think that maybe I had bumped into her or something and she thought I had hit her on purpose other times I think that she was just a kid and wanted to see what would happen if she made a story up.
In any case she described me as a bully and that is my side of the story I am confused. Hope your life is going well. low_penalty
Sometimes it's earned...
I never actually bullied anyone but I did beat this one kid up a bit, my grandad had died 2 days ago and this little f**ker came and starts taunting me singing "your grandads dead" so I kicked the little fool in the crotch, several times. MarkGimmeTheZuc
I'm sorry 'C'
I was in 5th grade, only had 1 friend. My friend and this guy were getting close, and having had someone try to cut me off from this friend before, I was scared. So I teased him, laughed at him, even pushed him once on a field trip. It all caught up when a mutual friend caught up to me while I was running laps in PE and said 'C thinks you're bullying him.'
I had to drop out of the class because I was crying so hard, I felt awful. I've since apologized multiple times, he's somehow forgiven me, and he's a wonderful person that I still see around school. trash_tm
Not so sorry....
I only bullied a kid because he bullied me to such an extent I had to get therapy and my mental health was plummeting. I grew to be bigger than him and I saw it as an opportunity. TBH I loved every second of it and he got to experience what I felt. I still haven't recovered from my mental health scare but I realize how much of a fool move it was to do that but a part of me still doesn't feel bad for him. Urnanhasmitochondria
Not Social...
I used to be one of those kids that just follows the bully around and agrees with everything they say. For a long time I just called people names and talked down to them. I never hit anybody or anything, but I could be pretty cruel. I grew up on food stamps, but lived in a rich neighborhood because my grandparents so gratefully "took us in" (and then proceeded to lie and cheat about damn near everything for a long time, but thats another story).
I was constantly surrounded by kids who got whatever they wanted, and i often felt i had little to no control. There were a lot of missed opportunities for me just because my family couldn't pay. I think shitting on other kids was one of the few things that gave me any confidence, but one day the bully i was friends with moved away, and i realized most kids didn't really like my presence. It set me back socially pretty far, and to this day i wish i could apologize to those kids, but at this point i can barely remember who it was i did that too. Witchy829
Even though you deserved it.....
A girl (classmate and ex best friend) used to bully me, talk about me behind my back and plotted all of my classmates against me and did anything she could to make me cry.
One day I exposed everything she had done and afterwards I bullied her for a while by saying how horrible she was to her face.
One time she cried and I felt so horrible about it that I never did it again. At the end of school I apologized and still feel horrible about what I did to this day because even though she was a vile person I never want to see that I've become someone equally as bad as her. belizzb
He was mean first....
He was actually a really mean kid, used to be friends with him before I realized how mean he was. Stuff advanced to him being teased by the whole class because he was such a d**k to everybody. I joined in on the whole thing, and now I realize it was kinda like bullying in retrospect, even if he earned the negative attention. Rex_Maztar27
Following the Lead.....
I wasn't really a bully but I was a pretty annoying/entitled b**ch back in middle school and it honestly didn't even hit me until a year or two ago (??), I had/have an entitled mother (to some degree) and I looked up to her as a kid so I guess I was just copying her actions. Chogisoo
Don't Lie....
I bullied a girl because i found out she told everyone that we were going out a couple years earlier when in fact we hadn't. Not physical bullying mind you, but verbally and emotionally. Which is just as bad. Things did not end well for her. hammerNspiKe
I was young....
Like many in the comments, I just didn't know what was right and wrong (I was really young). My teacher came up to me and told me that three parents had complained about me (I was 9). It made me really upset and I went home and cried about it. Didn't know who the kids were, all I know is that three different parents all came in and complained about me upsetting their children and to this day I still don't know what I did. TheRopster
My family is just weird...
I literally had no idea I was a bully. My family is pretty rough on each other but in a joking way. People make fun of each other constantly. It took me till I was about sixteen to realize other people didn't work like that and now that my generation is bringing SO's to family parties it's becoming more apparent how weird my family was. Theantsdisagree
I'm just bad.
There is no story I just didn't like him. I usually just call him bad names and pushed him and get others to come on my side. but I remember one night when I suddenly hated myself and started crying. So I stopped bullying KMH69420
Bullying can create a cycle of resentment, even as adults we've all experienced something like a bully. So, it's important that we understand that they are people as well, and to try to stop them.
Dating and the search for love and companionship... What a nightmare.
This journey plays out nothing like in the movies.
Every Prince or Princess (or everything in BTW) seems to have a touch of the psycho.
The things people say during what should be simple dinner conversation can leave a dining partner aghast.
Like... do you hear you?
Redditor detroit_michigldan wanted to discuss all the best ways to crash and burn when trying to make a romantic connection. They asked:
"You're on a date and it's going really great. What can another person say to ruin it completely?"
I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Despite the advancement of technology rendering people left to their own devices–literally–to entertain them, there are some leisurely activities that will never go out of style.
Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"

Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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When we first meet someone–whether through mutual friends, at school, or in a new work setting–we generally feel people out to determine if they're worth getting to know.
While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"

Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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Children tend to believe just about anything they hear.
That there are monsters under your bed, watching too much TV will make your head explode, and silly faces will be permanent if you make them too often.
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to silly things that children will believe.
Some call it naivitée, other's youthful innocence.
But it's hard not to look back with embarrassment on certain things we believed as a child, that today might simply seem dumb.
Redditor Disastrous_Toe_6548 was curious to learn the multitude of silly things people believed when they were children, leading them to ask:
"What's the dumbest thing you believed as a kid?"
Pleading to deaf ears...
"My dad told me he had hearing loss and couldn't hear me if I whined because my pitch would get too high."
"Would completely ignore me until I asked him questions in a normal voice."
"Trusted him implicitly until I was 12 and he yelled at my younger brother for whining."- Tyrion_Stark.
Get it while you can.
"That they took everything off the shelves when the supermarket closed."- fgyfddg.
Silly superstitions.
"My grandfather used to tell me that if I played with the fire, I'd pee the bed."
"I believed him for a while, until I got older."
"I think he was just trying to protect me from the fire."- teddypa1981.
"Rain, rain go away..."
"That if it was raining where I was, it was raining everywhere in the world."- morningshartz.
Age is just a number.
"My parents used to seem really old to me, so much so I believed they grew up like cave people as children, wearing giant leaves for clothes and what not."- Laleena_.
So that's how they're made!
"That smokestacks from the power plant created clouds."- Scaniarix.
An instant cure.
"The sun gives you sunburns, therefore, moonlight should heal them."- velocipeter.
Better safe than sorry.
"Don't drink and drive meant all drinks."
"My dad was super confused when I told him he wasn't allowed to have any soda until we got home."- hulagirlslovetoparty.
Don't believe everything you see on TV.
"There was an episode of Mickey Mouse where Mickey couldn’t reach something at first, so he tried again and somehow his arm was long enough to reach it."
"As a small kid I believed that if I couldn’t reach something, I should just try reaching for it again and my arm would then somehow be long enough to reach it."- That-Dutch-Person.
The miracle of childbirth.
"That babies are pooped out."
"When I was like 7 I was listening to my aunt as she explained that childbirth was pretty intense and painful for her, and I was all solemnly like, 'yeah, sometimes just my poops are painful, I don’t think I could get a baby out' and she went 'um, WHAT?' and her reaction made me realize real quick that I had f*cked up somewhere and I tried to change the subject while my mind was just reeling lol."- thesoundingfurrows.
Oh to be a child again.
And to believe literally everything you're told.
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