Imagining you can pass through all twelve years of school without encountering a bad teacher is optimistic, but ultimately a futile effort. Bad teachers are as inevitable as taxes, death, and stubbing your toe on the edge of the bed in the middle of the night when all the lights are off after going to the bathroom. You need to be prepared to survive them rather than thrive under them. Fortunately, we have the internet to share our resentment with one another.
Reddit user, u/foothill2004, wanted to know the "Who?" and the "Why?" when they asked:
Who is the worst teacher you've ever had?
Putting You On 1st Grade Blast
Mrs. Davis in first grade.
One time, I had a messy desk (you remember those ones with the top that flipped up so you could store your books and stuff inside).
She picked up the desk and literally dumped all my books and school supplies on me and made me clean it up off the floor while the rest of the class watched. Of course I started crying.
What kind of sadist does that to 6-year-old?
Even Roald Dahl Would Look Away In Disgust
My year 2 teacher Mrs Fowler.
Think Mrs Trunchable and you're on the right track. She would throw chalk at us, threaten to lock us in the cupboard, not allow us to use the bathroom resulting in kids pissing themselves, punishing us for not writing in cursive. She even did headlice checks and ended up spreading them around the class.
That's...Not...No.
Grade 9 math.
He used most of the class time to dispense life lessons and read fake emails from students thanking him for being such a good teacher. He was pretty weird around girls.
Also one time he pointed to a row of Korean students sitting next to each other and called them the Great Wall of China.
Look, Art Teachers Can Be All Over The Place, But This Is Too Much.
My grade 9 art teacher. The first day of class was a presentation about her and the course, which is normal at that school, except that she said that art was not subjective and animations were not an art form.
She waged war on anyone who used a mechanical pencil (or said purple instead of violet), forced students who were starting to fall asleep to stand at the back of the room for the rest of class, and did not allow talking. During the art history lesson she ranted about the unrealistic proportion of Barbie for half an hour and how religion killed art.
One time a student was talking while doing art and when they responded to her asking what they were doing with the word multitasking, she argued with them about how multitasking does not exist. Later that day she sent an email to their parents with a YouTube video link and the words "educate your child".
I never personally had any bad experiences with her but I witnessed a lot in that class. This is only the surface.
Need A List?
I had a U.S HISTORY teacher who:
-claimed to be a part of the KKK but had a black boyfriend
-didn't believe the moon landing happened
-was an anti vaxxer and thought vaccines caused autism
-would say "my man Farley knows what's up" to the only black kid in class when talking about slavery
-dirty danced at prom to embarrass her daughter
-was approved to foster children somehow
-looked exactly like Endive from Chowder
"Not The Way I Wanted."
I had an art teacher and we got some weird tasks to do which were all very boring to me. I draw a lot in my free-time and so I decided to make these tasks a bit more creative!
However in the end she said "You didn't do it the way I wanted, this is far too good for the level you should have done, which is why I'll give you a 5"
(I believe a 5 here is the equivalent of an D or F in the US)
Holding Tight To A Grudge
Mrs.Falci, my 11th grade Spanish teacher. The biggest C U Next C-ntsday in the school.
Ok granted, I wasn't the greatest student. But she was known for being a raging b-tch.
She failed me on an oral exam because I messed up one word. One f-cking word.
She gave me detention for EVERYTHING. I literally got detention once for forgetting my homework in my locker.
That year I received 37 detentions. 36 were from her. I went to 1, not hers.
When the dean asked me why and I explained "doesn't it seem a little odd that I would have detentions from only her and no other teachers? That I'm failing her class and not a single other? I'm pretty sure its because she's just a b-tch."
That was the one detention I got that wasn't hers. However I was relieved from all the others. My sister was the deans favorite student from years before, so he took my side on it.
Turns out, she hated me because of my sister. When my sister was in her class she was a new teacher. Apparently they really walked all over her to the extent that she ran out of the room crying once.
Maybe Talk About Something Besides How Many Bells You Got From Nook's
Had a math teacher in 5th or 6th grade who spent the entire year talking to a group of students about playing Animal Crossing on the gamecube. Every single person in that class except for the 5 or so who were her animal crossing fan club failed that class and had to go to summer school.
A Stickler For Pointless Tools.
In fifth grade she yelled at me for using a mechanical pencil instead of wood on a page she would never read.
Bragging? Where Does That Get You?
A college business statistics professor who only talked about how rich he was from learning statistics and how he had a Porsche with a radar detector in the front and back. I failed that one. The next professor was much better and I actually learned from her, and passed!
Bias On Full Display
She looovveeedddd the boys, but always hated on and picked on the girls. Just as an example, I worked really hard on a project for her class. It came back with a D- on it. My mom had had enough of her sh-t and took my project to the principal. She asked him to tell her what grade he would give the project. He looked it over and read through everything and said it was definitely A work. Mom showed him the grade she had given me on it. Teacher was spoken to and my grade changed.
She also failed me in that class (along with several other females), claiming I had never turned in any homework. I had, but couldn't prove it. The boys in her class never received less than a B. The year after I had her, she "retired" after speaking with the principal and the school board again. Btw: I was a straight A student, except for her class.
Do What We Paid You For
Math teacher a couple semesters ago. Woman barely taught us anything and spent probably half the class time in the bathroom or somewhere. She mostly made us students teach ourselves and outright told us she wasn't going to teach us everything "because in life/the real world, you won't have people teaching you everything you're expected to know" (paraphrasing).
You Don't Mess With Puppies
I had a professor who was awful at teaching. I never liked him. He eventually got fired after an investigation into him, sparked by PETA we were told, found that he was doing unethical testing on puppies and falsifying data for academic studies before coming to our college. I forget his name, but he taught genetics.
Even Third Graders Recognize The Awful
Third grade teacher. She had her teachers pet that could do no wrong. One day she gets a low score on her test, and begins crying. To make her feel better, she points to the worst student in the class (that probably had an undiagnosed learning disability) and says in front of the whole class, "don't worry you could be like her and have an F carved into your report card. "
Even 3rd grade me was like wow whatta b----tch.
The Timing Could Not Be Worse
Mrs. Huddleston, grade 4. I had a troubled childhood, and I remember during that grade that I had found out my grandfather was divorcing my grandmother, and that he kicked her onto the ground and stepped on her while threatening her with an axe. So naturally, I probably had some issues but I never acted out like an a--hole kid.
Anyways, she was trying to teach me something after class, something with blocks and multiplication maybe, and I remember that she was getting angry and frustrated, so I was crying because my home life had a lot of anger and fighting. She eventually slammed the blocks on the desk in anger and started screaming at me, while other kids laughed.
Now she wins awards for all of her "good work". She could have had an off day, but that school memory sticks out to me more than any others during that time, and I'll never associate her with anything else. That was 1994 or something like that.
F-ck her.
Show Him Up
He asked me "did your father ever teach you how to act?" I informed him that my father had died 4 years earlier. Two weeks later my step-dad comes to pick me up for an appointment saying he's here to pick up his child. Teacher over the phone with the office; "you mean the deceased father is here for pick up?"
All through high school that teacher just kept doubling down, never showed remorse for what he had said. He would chase me into other classrooms because I had a hat on and I needed to take it off.
This gave me motivation to become the compassionate, empathetic, and awesome teacher that I am today. My kids always get the benefit of the doubt and I respect them.
Sometimes, You'll Never Find A Good Enough Reason
In sixth grade I was sick and missed a day of school, so I didn't know what the homework was. The next day in class the first thing I did was ask one of my classmates for the previous nights homework so I could do it that night. My teacher gave me a zero and a detention in front of everyone for not turning in the assignment. I went to her privately after class and explained that I didn't have any friends in the class and had gotten everything I needed to do it that night as soon I walked in before class started. She told me it's not her problem if I'm a loser and that I should have found a way instead of making excuses.
I was a great student with straight A's, never missed school, and was always well mannered. I was absolutely mortified and so deeply hurt because in reality, not only did I not have any friends in that class, I didn't have many friends at all. The friends I did have (which were more school friends than actual friends) were on another "team" so had a different set of teachers.
Later in the quarter, I turned in a poem that I was incredibly proud of. I got nice paper to print it on and everything, and the poem itself was very real and very raw. She failed me on the project, and when I approached her about why she failed me she told me the whole thing was stupid—the visual presentation and the poem itself.
My mom still has that project framed in her house, and reminds me from time to time how meaningful it was for an 11 year old to have written it.
I'm not sure what that teacher had against me and still haven't been able to make sense of it all these years later, but I've never forgotten how she treated me.
People Confess The Reasons They Had To Cut All Ties With A Friend
Reddit user Duemont6 asked: 'What's something a friend did that made you end your friendship with them?'
Everyone has disagreed with their friends, even their best friend, at least once in their life.
Sometimes these disagreements might even lead to arguments or fights.
Of course, the sign of a true friendship is the ability to forgive and forget, and if all is not necessarily forgotten, it eventually becomes water under the bridge.
Sadly, this isn't the case for everyone, as sometimes words are said, or incidents occur that are difficult, if not impossible, to forgive and recover from.
Bringing even the closest friendships to an effective end.
Redditor Duemont62 was curious to hear what led people to cut one or more of their closest friends out of their lives, leading them to ask:
"What's something a friend did that made you end your friendship with them?"
Meow!
"She was a cat hoarder and when I talked her into giving up 20 she said that would help making space for the fall litters (outdoor feral)."
"I gave up."
"She had 120 cats inside her house."- MeowMix24
Not Even The Tiniest Gesture...
"I was run over by a drunk driver years back."
"Died temporarily and had to be revived at the hospital."
"Both my brothers told my best friend of over 20 years what happened."
"Not once did he reach out to see how I was or ask if I was ok or wished me well."
"I was hurt by it, but tried to make some sort of sense of it, like maybe he just didn’t know what to say or he was shocked by the news or he wanted to give me space to recover."
"Months later I’m home but still in crutches and can barely move without a great deal of pain."
"Reached out to my friend on the phone, talked a bit and asked if he felt like coming over to watch a movie, play some games and just hang out."
"I was lonely and missed him."
"He seemed enthused but asked if I could WALK to his house in December on icy roads barely able to hobble around on crutches to hang out there instead."
"He lived 0.2 miles from me and couldn’t drive or walk the roughly 5 minutes to my house."
"I stopped talking to him shortly after."- MitchConnor555
Victim Of The Bottle
"I had one where the guy was a horrendous drunk."
"Super sensitive to alcohol and would very easily slip into blackout status."
"When he would get drunk, he just wanted to f*ck with people and be a sh*t disturber."
"One night he was pretty drunk and we didn't feel like f*cking with with so we went out without him."
"We come home around 11 that night and he had a bunch of sketchy people in our house that we're also obnoxiously drunk."
"He was almost passed out on the couch after he had burned a huge hole in our carpet after going into my room and getting my hookah setup."
"I go upstairs and there are just random people I had never met just chilling out in the random bedrooms."
"Some people smoking weed on my bed."
"One random drunk guy was screaming at someone on the phone and gave the person on the phone our address and told them to bring everyone over."
"We kicked everyone out which of course was a huge scene and conflict."
"We booted the guy out the next day."
"Haven't talked to him since"- PutinBoomedMe
When People Refuse To Change...
"Maybe not anything dramatic but my best friend from university came back to visit his parents who live in the same city as me and we wanted to have dinner."
"I knew he was super flakey in university, so I made sure I kept my week open because I knew he wouldn't know when he was available until the last minute."
"I was so excited to introduce him to my fiancé and show him our new house."
"We got everything for a really nice dinner."
"The day before we had planned to have dinner, he texted me that he didn't feel like driving over from his parent's house (30 min) the next day because 'he might be tired'."
"I was mad that he was flaking on such important plans, but I offered to bring all the stuff for dinner and drive out to him instead."
"He said, 'No thanks'."
"I realized that he really didn't care about anything that was going on in my life and was still as immature as he had been in university."
"I decided it wasn't a friendship I wanted to maintain anymore."- kitskill
It Was All Fine Till SHE Came Along...
"He married a girl who is incredibly hard to get along with and turned into a robot."- Gua_Bao
Warped Priorities...
"Friends for over a decade."
"I was her maid of honor."
"She had 3 children with her husband, whom I was also very good friends with."
"I was very close with the kids, they called me auntie."
"I worked for her out of a home office."
"Watched the marriage deteriorate."
"She started a relationship with one of her clients after the marriage ended."
"She then started to treat her children like a burden."
"The new relationship was (and still is, to the best of my knowledge) more important than her children."
"When someone starts to severely neglect their children for a new exciting f*ck boy, I have to walk away."- redrainbow76
Friends Don't Take Advantage Of Other Friends...
"They were using me for free rent and as a scapegoat."- Chicago_Synth_Nerd_
The Green Eyed Monster...
"After talking to a guy I liked, we found out my 'best friend' was telling both of us that the other person didn't like us/found us annoying."
"He would ask her to invite me to parties, and she'd tell him I couldn't come, or that I said no and that he annoyed me."
"She'd tell me that he didn't invite me because he thought I was annoying."
"All because she liked him but wouldn't admit it to anyone."
"When we finally realized, we got together and stopped being friends with her."
"We've been together for 11 years now!"- horton_hears_a_homie
Not There When You Needed Them...
"The last straw: showing me no support when my dad passed away."- didyoubutterthepan
What Goes Around Comes Around...
"My best friend of 10 years and her husband had a falling out with my brother because my brother chose to stay out of a situation they were having with someone else, another mutual friend of ours."
"He didn’t wanna get involved."
"I agreed he shouldn’t get involved."
"They got so nasty and bitter about it all over time, and ended up lying to my brothers new wife and told her he cheated on her with one of our other friends."
"I knew this not to be true at all."
"They continued to make up stories and lie to her about him and it eventually destroyed their marriage because it created mistrust and conflict."
"His wife already had a lot of mental health struggles and it made it worse for her."
"They eventually divorced."
"I cut them out of my life."
"Since then, they have apologized and admitted to making up all the stories out of hurt and bitterness that my brother wouldn’t take their side in the conflict they were having with someone else, but it is all just too late."
"My brothers marriage was destroyed and so was our friendship."
"No coming back from that."
"By the way, my brother didn’t get involved because they were the ones in the wrong and if he told them that, imagine how much worse their revenge would be!"
"They’re unhinged."
"And their own marriage has since fallen apart."
"Karma."- NachosandMargaritas
Some might say that any true friendship is salveagable.
Leading one to wonder if any friend you found yourself cutting out of your life completely was ever a real friend at all.
People Share The Best Advice For Someone Starting Their First Job
Starting your first job is always nerve-wracking. The start of anything new usually is. That's why it's helpful to get some advice.
Before I started my first job, a friend of mine told me that there were a lot of things I should be willing to do in order to become indispensable, but one thing I should never do is give up lunch.
Even if it's a busy day and everyone is working through lunch, take five minutes to buy something at the deli next door or pop something in the microwave. You will not do your best work if you do not eat a meal.
I was very glad to get that advice, and it was something I always followed.
I also followed my own personal rule of writing down the process to do anything at work, even if it was as simple as where to look for a particular file. Anytime I thought 'oh, I'll remember,' I ended up having to ask again. It's always better to write it down so you not only know how to do it, but are the one that people come to when they need to know how to do it.
I'm not the only one that has good advice for someone starting their first job. Redditors are full of advice and are ready to share.
It all started when Redditor CampDreamy asked:
"What advice would you give someone starting their first job?"
Think Positive
"95% of success is showing up on-time and not having a bad attitude."
– Firebolt164
"There’s a quote that goes something like: you don’t need an advanced degree to show up on time, work hard, and have a positive attitude."
"I basically used this as my mantra as I built my career (and still do)."
– tyrannosean
"This has been my experience in my first ~5 years of employment. Being someone that people enjoy interacting with, sticking to deadlines, and broadly trying to make lives easier rather than harder will get you pretty close to the top, and it’s a lot easier than working overtime every day."
– 2catsinatrenchcoat
"Yep, when I was younger I always thought that just showing up on time, being a decent person to work with, and doing a good job were the bare minimum that everyone did....I learned later that this will put you above approximately 90% of your co-workers."
– raoulduke212
Sound Advice
"Poop on company time."
– 1320Fastback
"Well, sh*t."
– CampDreamy
"Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. That's why I poop on company time."
– mrselfdestruct066
Everyone Makes Mistakes
"Don't worry about f**king up. You're going to f**k up. We all f**k up. Constantly."
"Learn from it when you f**k it up so you do it better next time and you'll be the best employee in any job."
– MaximumZer0
"And when (not if) you f**k up, own up to it, and do your best to fix it. It's way easier to fix a mistake when it first happens than 3 weeks or even hours down the line. This applies to basically any field."
– super5aj123
Gossip Girl
"Listen to gossip if you want, but never spread it."
– GamerMomLife
"Yep. I worked in a private pool snack bar kitchen last summer, and nearly all of my coworkers were high school girls. The amount of sh*t they talked on each other was insane, but I just tried my best to not get involved. It never became anything other than sh*t-talking, but it's just a good idea in general to keep your head down."
– super5aj123
"I work in a kitchen with majority middle-aged women, and it's simular to what you described."
– DeadStar800
Do It All
"If they tell you to sweep, just sweep. You still make the same amount. Unless you’re an MD or something else, in that case you’re f**ked!"
– PublicEnema11
"A programmer consultant I knew in the 90s lived by the motto "it all pays the same.""
"You want him to spend his $50/hr time doing things that an unpaid intern could handle? Sounds like an easy day."
– Cacafuego
(Don't) Let It Burn, Burn, Burn
"Don’t burn bridges if you quit or get fired."
– kbrown423
""Never cut what you can untie.""
"- Robert Frost"
– sophistt_
It's All Public
"Assume everybody in the company plus clients will read every email you send."
– CouchieWouchie
"Yeah this is genuinely a great rule that will save your @ss. Write every email as if it will be read by the whole org."
– FrungyLeague
"Also speak as though anything you say is being recorded."
– squished_frog
Protect Yourself
"Document EVERYTHING. Every time punch. Every direction from your supervisor."
– DejectedDonut
"Do this if you are working outside your duties/responsibilities as well, or directed to do things. You want a paper trail of why you did what you did if something screwy happens."
"Ideally, the work place should concentrate on policy, protocol, training, engineering and admin controls and such... but well stuff isnt always ideal."
– Zech08
Work Friends
"You're going to feel tempted to make strong relationships with your coworkers - but remember that you shouldn't share with anyone what you wouldn't want known by everyone. You may think you can trust someone, but you should have a bit of caution."
"A lot of work relationships feel a bit like a friendship, but they are not. If they move on, or you do, it is rare that you will stay in touch. Accept it for what it is."
– Mobtor
Education
"Take advantage of tuition reimbursement to get degrees/certifications that will benefit your career and don't worry about "owing" the company for it."
"Many industries have pretty generous tuition reimbursement programs where they cover your school but you owe them time after they cut those checks. A typical program might have a requirement that if you leave the company you need to pay back anything they had paid out in the last two years."
"The thing is that you want to leverage that degree for a salary jump and the current company won't give it to you because they have you "locked" in now, right?"
"So you interview for your next job and when that company gives you an offer you explain that you're on the hook for the tuition reimbursement at your old company "and since you will be getting the benefit of that education I will need a signing bonus to cover my financial obligation to my current employer.""
"Keep in mind that the signing bonus will be taxable income so you need to shoot for an amount that will have taxes taken out and leave what you need to pay back the tuition."
"I've known too many people who didn't get a degree that could have really helped them but they didn't want to be "on the hook" to their employer. I even know one guy who spent close to $30k out of his own pocket to get a master's degree because he didn't want to "be stuck here" when he was done."
– tacknosaddle
The Little Moments Matter
"Don’t miss any major life events (or the major life events of close family/friends) for work. You might feel pressure from your employer not to take the time off."
"The family/friends will still be around for many years, the first job probably won’t."
– mxxiestorc
Learn To Save
"Pension! Pension! Pension!"
"Put as much as you can afford to into your pension. Retirement might seem a lifetime away but the sooner you save for it the sooner you can achieve it."
– Grayzo
Money, Money, Money
"Pack a lunch! Eating out can put a huge dent in your paycheck!"
– awileycat
"Can't stress this enough. For the price of eating out unhealthy food for 1 day you can usually pack healthier lunch for 2-3 days."
– QuantumExileMusic
Oh, yes! I found out about that last one the hard way...and still haven't learned!
Just the other evening, I was walking home, and I barely survived.
I tripped on a dead tree branch.
The next thing I knew, I was flying in the air and landing on my back.
My belongings were strewn about.
And my to-go burger was dead.
A simple walk.
A simple dead branch.
And almost lights out.
Redditor Typical_XJW wanted to hear about the times people eluded death, so they asked:
"How did you almost die?"
Don't even get me started on any and every car ride.
We're always moments from the end on highways.
Back in the Day...
Hunger Games Student GIFGiphy"Almost drowned when I was 5 or 6, been hospitalized twice for sepsis between 2016 and 2019, and had a stroke this year. I'm 29."
ChristmasKid88
On the Disk
"MRSA infection in the disk on my lower spine between L5 and S1. Showed up two days after a cortisone shot but the hospital said it was from something else. Was in hospital 25 days multiple emergency surgeries."
EatA**FromBack
"I worked for a doctor who did these in-house and other procedures, and it 100% made me not trust medical facilities, cleanliness, and sterilization procedures. Had about twenty patients all come down with the same gut infection, 'coincidentally,' the same patients who came in for endoscopy procedures the same day."
dimlylit_
Saved
"Saving a younger friend from drowning, he panicked and almost took me out."
loztriforce
"Had that happen with a younger cousin when we were kids. His brother and I went to save him, he climbed on both of us and pushed us under. Lifeguard didn’t even see us until he pulled younger cousin out of the water, then we popped up gasping for air."
coffeejunki
Shucked
"16-year-old farm kid me, stepdad told me to go pick up a load of corn seed for planting. I had gone with him many times before, and driven the truck (full ton dually diesel) and hauled light stuff with it. Nobody told me how different it is to haul 10,000 lbs of seed on a big flatbed trailer on gravel. I had a lot of common sense and was driving slowly and carefully."
"Still… 10,000+ lbs pushed me down a gravel hill skidding, praying to god I stopped before the stop sign at the T intersection to a busy highway. I came to a grinding halt JUST as the front of the truck crossed the plane where the gravel turned to asphalt. A semi was coming from one direction and regular cars from the other. I shudder thinking about what if on that one. Don’t let untrained kids tow potentially deadly, heavy trailers, with zero training."
datnetcoder
Finding Tracks
College Sports Sport GIF by Sealed With A GIFGiphy"Was backwoods camping in Yellowstone and if I hadn’t considered for 30 seconds if I REALLY needed to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I would have walked out of my tent headfirst into a brown bear, which I heard before leaving and found tracks of next to my tent in the morning. Spookiest moment of my life in hindsight."
danvo5
Bears are a no go for me.
Camping is an even bigger HECK NO!!
Several Strikes
Reassuring Jimmy Fallon GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonGiphy"Twice. 1. Woke up to my apartment on fire."
"2. Hit head-on by a drunk driver on a small bus, just after everyone got off bus exploded."
lizard_king0000
Oh Barb
"Lmao okay, so I was getting my teeth cleaned, and I got nitrous oxide because I have so many exposed roots. Well, my hygienist at the time was this lovely lady from Minnesota. Kinda flaky, but super sweet, and talked about her family all the time. So I'm in the chair and she hooks up my mask, and away we go. I actually fell asleep! Except not so much."
"Turns out Barb had forgotten to turn the oxygen on and had been feeding me straight nitrous. She only noticed because I started gasping for air while unconscious. So that's how I almost died at the dentist. I never saw Barb again, but I tell you, that was the best nap of my life!"
CharismaticAlbino
Climb Up
"I was snorkeling. I had my other stuff stored on a rock by the water, about 3 meters high. When I got out, I decided to climb straight up. Almost at the top, the rock I was hoisting myself up on came off and I fell back first onto the coral. If a friendly wave hadn’t come in, I would have broken my back, at least."
Yugan-Dali
Blood Loss
"I was diagnosed with a rare fatal blood disorder from birth, doctors projected I’d live till about 6 and then die from massive blood loss. As this was the mid-90s, they tested the idea of using stem cells from my sibling's umbilical cord; administering the first successful stem cell transplant from a sibling donor and I’m still here to tell the tale!"
Material_Cry1697
These were some tremendously close calls.
Do you have any near-death experiences to share? Let us know in the comment below.
People Who Cheated On Someone Break Down Why They Really Did It
When it comes to the dating scene, most of us have a pretty low opinion of people who choose to cheat on their partners, not to mention serial cheaters.
But that doesn't seem to stop some people from doing the deed.
Curious, Redditor miaah214 asked:
"People who have cheated before, why did you do it?"
Revenge Cheat
"He cheated first, and I was young, petty, and thought revenge would make me feel better."
- Witch_on_a_moped
Immature and Selfish
"Unbridled ego, unsatisfying regular sex life, and a girl who threw herself at me."
"I was an idi*t, I acted like an a**hole, and I will regret it for the rest of my life."
"It was a hard truth to face. It was a dark time in my life where my ego and my immaturity caused me to hurt several people I loved."
"Fortunately, I learned from it, and while I can't take back the pain I caused, at least now I know that I am 100% capable of being an a**hole and so can choose not to be one."
- Seba_King
Insecurity
"Insecurity. I was always on the lookout for someone who would make me feel more desirable than the last. It was a serious youthful lack of judgment."
"Once I grew up emotionally, I realized what a piece of s**t I was and the hurt I caused. Hard to live with, to be honest."
- Penfold_for_PM
Just Desire
"100% pure lust. That’s it. I’m not proud of it."
- mydepressingpoems
Lots of Options
"Willing partners. It was amazing how many times when I did have a steady girlfriend that I would suddenly get propositioned by random women or worse yet, my girlfriend's friends or sisters."
"Too many times to be a fluke."
"It was like they figured if you are in a relationship, you're worth pursuing."
"But when I was single, most times I couldn't get a woman's attention."
"So it was an ego boost, but ultimately, I decided to be a better person, and I met a person who I truly thought was 'the one.'"
"And to a certain extent I did, it just didn't last through no fault of my own."
- Patient-Quarter-1684
In Need of Validation
"When you grow up being in turn neglected and told you're not good enough, validation is like a drug, and intimacy is the ultimate validation."
"Sooooo much therapy to undo this."
- RowhammerBitflip
"This. I’m just recently realizing how I didn’t receive enough attention and validation from my parents and how much it’s influenced my choices. Meeting someone and having them be into me physically is the easiest validation boost I can find."
"People who grew up with parents actually interested in them and with an instilled sense of self-confidence don’t know how good they have it."
"I don’t inherently feel important or relevant so I’m always looking for someone to tell me otherwise."
- tellitothemoon
The Thrill of It
"Because I was a f**king a**hole 20-year-old who only thought of himself and getting some action. The high of it."
"I'm 37 now. No cheating since then."
- Temporary_Fault6402
The Real Joy
"My ex was done in the bedroom and even said they were no longer interested in me physically or sexually."
"I should have left at that point, but with kids and the financial hit of divorce, I just looked to fulfill that need."
"I later divorced, and it was a big financial hit, but oh my god, what a relief it was getting out. Getting out of an abusive relationship is where the true pleasure comes from."
- loomdog1
In Need of Attention
"My partner cheated on me shortly after I had his baby. I wanted to leave, but I convinced myself to stay. The logistics of having a baby and 24-hour care are challenging on your own. He refused to have sex with me."
"At some point, someone got me in a weak spot. Somewhere between exhaustion, low self-esteem, and the sheer opportunity of having an orgasm were too strong for me. I’m deeply ashamed."
"Shortly after I picked myself up, the relationship ended. I should have left sooner."
"Someone telling you that you are beautiful, talented, and special after being invisible can feel like a drug. I don’t expect sympathy from anyone for my actions. But I do have a lot of sympathy for others now."
- throwawaythrowyellow
The Easier Option
"Because I chose a cowardly and easy path. Instead of going to therapy and ending my toxic relationship, I cheated on them with someone who I had convinced myself I was in love with and loved me."
"As it turns out, breaking up with someone is a lot less harmful to everyone involved than cheating."
- dodongosbongos
Devastating Choices
"Not me, but a guy friend cheated and the reason he gave was that he loved his fiancée but they had very different sex drives."
"He also said that when he brought it up to her (the difference in their sex drives and the problems it would cause) she begged him not to leave and insisted it wouldn’t be an issue."
"He told her it already WAS an issue and, as a last resort, she said she would understand if SOME DAY he felt the need to look elsewhere…just as long as she never found out."
"The girl admitted to saying all this but explained that she would have said anything for them to stay together in that moment, she didn’t think he’d actually be 'f**ked up enough to cheat' and she never imagined he would do it so soon."
- Dramiotic
The Perfect Combination
"A perfect storm of poor impulse control, untreated mental illness, and boredom."
"People on the moral high ground will tell you not to cheat for reasons like morality and integrity; from the moral low ground, I can tell you that the lifelong guilt, shame, and remorse are not worth it."
- LowCarbBeesechussy
Emotionally Done
"Because the relationship was done and I was already moving on emotionally. I just didn't care about her enough to care whether she was hurt or not. Honestly, in hindsight, I have zero idea why we were still together. It DID make the eventual breakup a lot messier."
"I was young and it taught me an important lesson. If you're done, just be done and leave. There's no point in dragging it out. If you're ready to start looking for another relationship, start by ending the relationship you're already in."
- codefyre
Ready to Make Up for It
"I had a perceived lack of affection. I felt ugly and disgusting and like I was just an emotional tampon."
"I would never do it again. In therapy, I learned a lot about the reasons I did what I did and in all honesty, if she would even entertain the idea of trying again, I’d spend every day making up for it and making sure she felt more love then can be imagined."
"I’m currently fulfilling into the man I know I can be. I just wish it took a more positive trigger in order to start that for me."
- Anthonys455
Let's end it -- the article, that is -- on a lighter note.
The Worst Kind of Cheating
"My wife wasn’t around. The house was empty."
"I couldn’t wait for her to get home, so I watched the next episode without her knowing."
"Honey, if you’re reading this… I’m so sorry."
- six6sickx
"You're a monster."
- Efficient_Ad_8367
It's so hard to imagine what's going on inside someone else's head or why they might choose to do the things that they do, especially if it's something we don't agree with.
It's at least heartening to see that many of these Redditors used these experiences as learning opportunities and have since gone on to treat the most treasured people in their lives a little differently.