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People Explain How Their Favorite Teacher Became Their Worst Nightmare

People Explain How Their Favorite Teacher Became Their Worst Nightmare
Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

Having a teacher that truly supports you is priceless. But sometimes, our favorite teachers can fall from grace, and through whatever events or circumstances, they become the bane of your existence. It sucks, but it happens quite a bit. Here are some of those stories.

u/Reiders-theaters93jx asked: What did your favorite teacher do to become your worst one ever?



That doesn't make any sense.

Sounds petty but.... In 7th grade. I always made 100% on spelling tests. Always. Hell, they give you the words on a list beforehand. But anyway, I got my test back with a score of 80%. I checked and rechecked and rechecked my paper and couldn't see the error. So, I go up to the teacher and tell her I can't find my mistakes. And honestly, she says to me, "You didn't dot your 'i' right over the 'i'. Huh?

I go back to my desk and ask to see my friend's test. They didn't dot their 'i' right over the 'i' either. I go back up to the teacher and tell her this and she says, 'Well, if everyone else is going to jump off a bridge, does that mean you would too?" By this time, I was pissed and said, "yes, I would."

I got sent to the principal's office. Hated this class after that.

petitenigma

Karen-esque, indeed.

Giphy

My Freshman year of High School, I had this one English teacher who was not only a really cool dude but very good at his job and made great choices in assigned readings (including Shakespeare's more violent plays, like Macbeth and Titus.) As his student, I had a lot of respect for him.

Fast-forward 5 years, I'm taking a year off between High School and College to work a regular job so I can save a little more money. This same teacher walks into my store with a small order, and then proceeds to verbally tear the cashier next to me a new one because the items he "needed for his class" would have to be back-ordered. Like that's somehow the cashier's f*cking fault the distributor didn't ship out certain items to YOUR liking? I was utterly dumb-struck at his Karen-esque behavior.

Lesson learned: Just because someone is good at what they do doesn't mean they're a good person, you never truly know someone until you see them interact with the public.

Egodram

Wow.

I was a student worker in the guidance counselors office. I worked there two periods a day, doing filing, decorating, and generally being a gopher (go for this, go for that). I loved the two teachers/counselors who sat in that office.

And then one day, the fundraising candy box comes up $10 short. That's weird, because all candy is $1, but we assume someone made change and then someone (maybe else) saw a tenner and legged it.

That's what I though, anyway.

Several months later, we're running the book fair. I'm a cashier. One of the tills comes up $5 short. Could be theft, but could be just high schoolers bad at math, or a making-change swindle, or whatever.

The next day I get called into the principals office (oooOOOoohh!) and am told that they know I stole $20 from the book fair, because they also know I stole $20 from the candy sales several months prior, though they couldn't prove it at the time.

If, however, I pay the principal $50 in cash by tomorrow, my parents don't need to be involved.

Well, I don't want my parents involved because that's an automatic thrashing just for being contacted by the school, never mind what they'd do if they thought I was a thief (never mind I worked in the family restaurant since I was 9 and ran the register for years after school without ever coming up short). So I go to my two favorite teachers and ask them for help, because obviously something is screwy here.

Turns out, they're aware, because they told the principal that I had stolen the $20 from the candy box (never mind it was $10), so it seemed pretty obvious that I also took $20 from the register (it was short by $5). Never mind the extra $10, I guess.

Well, I had a job, so I actually had money, and I gave it to the principal the next day and like any honest blackmailer, he never told my parents.

The worst part about the whole thing was the implication of stupidity. Like, I don't much mind being called a thief, but I resent being called a stupid thief that would TWICE steal from his own till.

F you, Elkton High School. Those teachers are long dead, but you're still sh*tty in my book.

shandower

WTF?!?!

Our teacher Mr. A was really cool. We were in 6th grade. He was in his early 20's. He joked with us, made difficult concepts easy, and was easy to talk to since he liked a lot of the same shows and movies that we did.

One day, a girl with Down Syndrome transferred in. Our beloved Mr. A would pick on her and if she didn't know an answer, would relentlessly ask her and say stuff like "you're keeping the class from learning." She cried almost every day. The girl was gone a few weeks later. The teacher still works there.

HAPPY ENDING EDIT: A little Google digging let me know that the girl he used to make fun of sits on the local mental health board and has a full-time job in the community. The local paper had an article on her.

IEscapedWFG

Definitely not always capitalized.

Giphy

Last round of my 3rd grade spelling bee. Word is constitution. "c-o-n-s-t-i-t-u-t-i-o-n, constitution," I proclaimed confidently. My teacher said it was wrong, since constitution is capitalized. Except it's also an improper noun, dumb b*tch. So no one won the spelling bee, despite the other finalists spelling it blatantly wrong.

TrillbroSwaggins

Definitely not the students' fault.

High school English teacher is an all-around fun person, and many people (including myself) chose her for the next grade of English classes. Christmas comes around and the teacher brings up the idea of doing one of those Salvation Army Angel (a gift for a less-fortunate kid in the community you take from one a tree at a store or mall. The class was on board with the idea, but then she insisted on doing two for our class section. It's an honors-level class with a few higher-income students, but we're in a Title I school where the majority of student—including myself—were on free/reduced lunch.

The weeks go by, and as people are dropping a few dollars here and there, the teacher expresses how she wanted to go bigger with the gift. Jackets for both, some toys, a baby doll for the girl, an iPod shuffle for the older boy. "What's an iPod without any music?" "What's a baby doll without some accessories."

Even when she said there was no pressure for us to give if we were unable to give, she began to make passive aggressive about how disappointed she was with the amount of contributions for the Angels. She began taking up class time to address how if we weren't able to fund two, we shouldn't have taken on the responsibility of two Angels. Putting blame on us that she's having to fund these with her own money. It's too late to return the Angel and it'd be our fault they don't have quality gifts this Christmas. As time goes on, more and more people are getting a bit uncomfortable, their perceptions of the sincere, 'cool teacher' start to change, and after a few more unrelated class rants and punishments, one of my favorite teachers goes to being my worst one ever.

gmg1890

That's rough.

TA in college. He ran our labs and was close to us in age so we used to hang out with him socially, play games with him etc. and he would give us extra licenses for software if we asked even though we were only supposed to get 1 each. He could give out Windows Pro licenses and stuff so this was really nice.

Then I missed a lab once because my Aunt was in the hospital dying of cancer. She didn't actually die that day though, so when I made up the lab the next week he marked it late. She died the next week.

ironman288

YIKES.

Giphy

Favorite English teacher my senior year of high school. She let me borrow novels to read, I'd chat with her before first period, she put a coffee maker in her office she'd let me have a cup. She was in her early 30s. Came in one day a frazzled mess and got arrested in class. She was sleeping with an 18 year old student. He had a girlfriend and she was married. She got everything revoked, teaching license, banned from teaching in the state. Changed her name, got divorced, ran off with the kid. I was devastated. I really connected with her and the sub replacement was a b*tch.

Admirable-Cat

Well that sucks.

Had an amazing biology teacher who I really looked up to both as a teacher and as a strong female role model, until final year when one day in class she started on a rant about how gay people were abominations and were going straight to hell. I had found out a year earlier that my older brother was gay and was going through hell after being disowned by my dad. I lost all respect for my teacher right there and then.

wooden_cupboards

Ew.

When I was about 7 I thought my swim instructor was the coolest dude ever. One of the last things we had to do in the summer course was to dive down and touch the bottom of the deep end of the pool (8 or 9 ft) while he's also at the bottom to make sure if you made it or not. I hated opening my eyes underwater so I had no idea how close I was. Apparently I was within inches but I panicked and started going back up. He grabs my f*cking ankle and I lose it and started thrashing around until I surfaced. His excuse was that "I was so close".

That was over 20 years ago but I still remember. I know he was probably just some high school lifeguard with a summer job but it went from idolization to betrayal in an instant.

iBelieveInSpace

"Truly sorry."

Giphy

Over reacts sometimes. I mean, she was sweet and kind but sometimes she overreacts over nothing.

I had a habit of saying "Isn't it suppose to be..." over something where I thought it was one way but thought it was another.

Apparently, she took it as an act of me "commanding" how an answer should be and got upset over the word "suppose".

One day I said it and she had already been upset with me, but later she gave us our test results. I walked up to her saying she might have given me a wrong mark, I was ACTUALLY telling her to lower it not increase it but I accidentally missed two points. She got upset that I suggested she was wrong, so instead of praising me for my honesty, she was going to send me to the headmistress. She said "I'm very sorry I had to do this," and I wanted to tell her that if she was truly sorry she WOULDN'T do this.

BTW, I was 9.

Author1999

Yikes.

My current Chem teacher has no respect for students. She seems nice but I've broke down many many times in class sobbing. She's been standing right next to me watching me like nothings the issue. And when we had two students pass away this year (one due to medical reasons the other to suicide) she gave the message to the class in the most disrespectful way ever. You could tell that in her mind it was just a disruption.

kalechiwps

That's an oof from me, dog.

It's gonna be hard writing this since the terms don't really correspond to the international norm, but bear with me.

So I'm taking university courses in Economics, majoring in Statistics and Economic Forecast, lots of maths, algorithms, statistical analysis and all. Last year we were supposed to choose our coordinating teachers for our degree thesis, and I chose the baddest badass of them all (or so I was told), simply because hearing that he's rather tough implied that he's a good professor - and a strict one, which gave me the impression that he'd get the best of me. We were supposed to choose between econometrics and statistical survey as practical methodologies for our thesis and I chose econometrics since I'm a lazy ass and didn't wanna go around asking for people to take my survey, also I like econometrics and data analysis a bit more.

So first meeting with my prof and my colleagues (we were 5 students who chose this prof as our mentor for the thesis), he seems like a really nice guy, immediately liked him and his attitude, kind of a careless guy with lots of knowledge to share and lots of willingness to share.

Fast forward to the beginning of the third (and last) year of our studies and we finally have classes with this professor. Oh boy, was I wrong.

To say he was rough was an understatement. From the nice guy he ought to be, his attitude shifted between being nice and careful and gentle to shouting and yelling and berating students, calling us names and threatening us with failing his class, which meant we'll have to come back for another year to take his class. Not to mention that he was that type of man, in his 40s, divorced, single parent, highly unattractive, not really relevant to our studies, but you could see that his frustration was affecting his performance as a professor and co-ordinator, mainly focusing on girls in our group.

A couple weeks ago he kind of confessed to his frustrations, when while grading our papers, he randomly started talking about how women leave you no matter how good you are, how nice you treat her, she'll always leave you for a better looking guy, or a rich one, or both. He went on with this for like 10 minutes. Me and a girl who I get along with would always joke about this before his rant, we always suspected he acted the way he did because of some frustration towards women, mainly because we knew his wife left him. He was also very temperamental, and taking grading and evaluation criteria decisions based on his mood, contradicting himself and making up his mind about grades. He was also very personal when evaluating us. It's sad that I really liked this professor, he really got me into studying and enjoying my studies, then disappointed me as a student.

Sorry for the long read, I had to get it out.

ManofMayhem323

That seems uncalled for.

Giphy

This happened in high school. I was going to the bathroom during passing period between I think 5th and 6th period. The urinals were kinda occupied, and guy rules dictate that I cannot go there, so I take a stall at the far end. I then pee and get out to wash my hands, but am immediately intercepted by a teacher. The teacher may not of been my exact favorite, but he was certainly close. He was my World History & Civilization (all one class) teacher, and that was my favorite class discounting teachers, even after what is about to happen. The teacher tells me I cannot leave or wash my hands or anything, and after another kid leaves the stall, he takes both of us out into the hallway. We are ordered to empty our pockets, and we do, then he looks confused. The teacher then just leaves.

As me and the other kid go back in to wash our hands, I ask him why we were just searched. Apparently, one of the kids in the stalls was vaping and the teacher must of saw the vapor. Keep in mind there are only three stalls in the smaller, upstairs bathroom where we were. The teacher searched the two of the three who weren't vaping. I had a real life smh moment, then went to my class.

After 6th period, lucky me had World History & Civilization class. I figured once there, he would apologize for wrongfully pulling me over and making me look stupid in the hallways. But no, the entire class he just ignored me completely, even when I raised my hand to answer questions he asked. As far as I know, that idiot never even caught the actual kid vaping. Like, seriously? I was acing his class and being a smart kid before that, but I would stop participating from then on out.

The class was still easy and I still aced it, but no more answering questions the others didn't have an answer for. No more laughing at your references only I get. Have fun getting everyone else to do something.

Jmanuiop

That's not a good teaching method.

I had a pre-algebra teacher who I thought was fun but she ended up being really annoying. I thought she was fun because she had a squirt gun to tease the kids with. But after a while she became just another one of those teachers, and she yelled at our class for not being able to solve problems in literally five seconds.

She kept saying things like "it's only going to get worse" and "you guys need to be spoon fed answers" constantly. It got so bad I had to leave pre-algebra and do normal math.

gamesandmemesEXP

People Divulge The Dumbest Reasons Their Friends Ever Ended Up On The News

Reddit user Miguenzo asked: 'What’s the dumbest reason somebody you know landed on the 6 o’clock news?'

It can be a pleasant and exciting surprise to see a friend or family member show up on the evening news.

Particularly if it is a story showcasing their accomplishments or allowing them to let their voice be heard on an important issue.

Of course, showing up on the news isn't always a joyous occasion.

Indeed, some people tune in to find their friends and family on the news for reasons they might hope people will eventually forget down the line.

Redditor Miguenzo was eager to hear stories of a loved one making the evening news for less than brag-worthy stories, leading them to ask:

"What’s the dumbest reason somebody you know landed on the 6 o’clock news?"

15 Minutes, Or Four Seconds, Of Fame...

"Years back, there was a college scholarship scam going on here."

"These companies would go to high schools and do a presentation, and grift parents into paying a large sum for the company to help get a scholarship."

"My mom took one look at this and was like, 'this is a scam'."

"My uncle bought it hook, line and sinker and paid up."

"And received absolutely nothing."

"So he calls our news program and they do a feature with this company in their 'hall of shame.'"

"My uncle was absolutely THRILLED."

"'They interviewed me for 4 hours!'"

"'It's going to be huge!'"

"We all sit around the TV."

"It's February 2000."

"Boom, there's my uncle!"

"They do the lead-in..and then, there's my uncle saying..."

"'They said, uh, sue 'em'."

"My uncle is screaming."

"'What the Hell?! They were at my house for 4 hours!'"

"We still have it on VHS somewhere."

"My uncle's star moment over in seconds."- JKW1988

Episode 19 News GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy

Preserved For Posterity...

"My college roommate got stuck in an infant swing at a public park and firefighters had to use some type of Jaws of Life contraption to cut the swing down and cut her out of it."- Nocomt

Oops!

"I know a guy who was interviewed on camera up in the mountains where there was a forest fire."

"He had been up there fishing with his girlfriend."

"He was married."- Fezig

Close Call

"Dude was swimming laps in a lake after dinner (i.e., around sunset)."

"Predictably, he got bit by an alligator."

"I saw him on the news, shirtless in true Floridaman fashion, with a little bandage over each tooth mark."

"The bandages made a dotted line around his shoulder and chest in the shape of an alligator's mouth, like he was in a cartoon or something."- BigRedRobotNinja

Tiere Bis Unters Dach Swimming GIF by SWR KindernetzGiphy

Unpaid Extra

"There was a park nearby that had no drainage and was bowl shaped."

"So if it rained hard, this baseball park/ football field turned into a mini lake."

"It rained a lot one day and the news did a story just showing how much it rained, and in the background behind the news-woman, from out of frame you see my friend rowing past her in a kayak."- hook_killed_pan

Right Place At The Right Time?

"A fight broke out at a HS football game."

"Turned into a huge brouhaha.'

"They intervened this dumba** friend of mine on the local news, the only bit that made it into the broadcast was him saying 'For the first time in my life I was happy to see cops!'"- KneeDragr

Awww...

"Marrying their pet goldfish in an underwater ceremony, complete with a wedding gown and guests in scuba gear."- Candies-For-You

Illustration Swimming GIF by Ordinary NadeeGiphy

Strike!

'A childhood friend’s dad embezzled money from the local Little League team."- Key-Zebra-4125

How Did He Even Make It To The Freezer?

"An ex boyfriend of my best friend’s sister ended up on the news for breaking into a Checkers through the drive through window and locking himself in the freezer until the cops arrived and arrested him."- pineapple3712·

Ice Cream Snack GIF by My/Mochi Ice CreamGiphy

Setting An Example...

"I got filmed and aired sticking a swab up my nose at drive thru covid testing."

"I had just declined to be interviewed at my car because I was afraid of getting someone sick."

"Test was negative, and my sister got a new pic for my contact profile on her phone."- idiotsavant419

Criminals Don't Ususally Wait In The Check Out Line...

"My friend was going to target with his mom to buy a tv."

"They stopped at Starbucks in the store."

"When the worker asked what the wanted he said “'he money in the register see' like an old timey gangster, then laughed ordered and payed for their coffee and went into target."

"While they were pushing their cart with a tv in it to the check out line the swat team surrounded them and arrested him for armed robbery.. was on the news."

"Got charged and everything."

"The first hearing the barista could not point him out and the judge threw out the case."- MACHOmanJITSU

Returning To The Scene Of The Crime...

"A guy from my high school stole Michael Jackson's glove from the Motown Museum in Detroit MI in early 90s."

"He returned it."

"I knew it had to be him, and yep, it was."

"I remembered him because he dressed like Michael Jackson every single day of school for years."

"He did it really well, too."

"He also didn't talk much."

"So, I was surprised to see him talking to a TV reporter about it."

"I hope he's doing well."- ATK80k

Animated GIFGiphy

Some people crave their 15 minutes of fame and embrace it however it may come.

Others only hope that no one they knew happened to be watching their local news that night...

Even though they know deep down that all their friends have it on their DVR and are never planning to erase it...


People say the darndest things after -- and sometimes during -- lovemaking.

Maybe it's the euphoria.

Maybe it's the adrenaline.

Maybe it's the tequila.

It's always good to have a kind-hearted joke on hand or a generic compliment.

Or maybe just grab your belongings and skedaddle.

Redditor ella-es-julia wanted to hear about the craziest pillow talk stories, so they asked:

"Men of Reddit: What's the weirdest thing a girl said to you after sex?"

The weirdest I ever got was... "What city am I in again?"

Geography matters.

Morbid Much?

In Bed Home GIFGiphy

"Met girl, went on date, brought girl home, had the sex, finished the sex, laying there she says 'What would you do if I died right now?' and demanded an actual answer."

Vixxay

Meow

"Not to me, but as she walked over to the bathroom after the deed, she said 'I just did your owner' to my cat. Sexiest thing that ever happened to me."

shlanky369

"My Fiancé and I were about to start going at it when the cat appeared from under the bed and stared at me. I went, 'Babe the cat is here. I don't like how he's staring at my boobs."

"Fiancé grabbed the cat and yeeted him into the hallway with the phrase, 'Get out you weird pervert.'"

"The cat proceeded to (without his claws) smack the door over and over again while screaming for a few minutes straight. Pervert."

Trumpet6789

POP!

"'I need you to take me to the hospital. Something is now bleeding and hurts.'"

"Turns out her ovarian cyst popped. We're still together with the running joke of sex so good it put her in the ER."

DasBatt

"Ah ah ah, 2 hemorrhagic cysts ruptured, I was bleeding internally, but only a little bit. I'm still impressed by how quickly you went from a naked sex stupor to being ready and carrying me to the car. Good times."

"In the ER when they asked me what happened all I could do was shout 'we were f**kin!' through my tears. That memory still makes me laugh."

Straystar-626

Damn it's Good

"We were going at it for some time then her face went instantly from 'damn it's good' to full-on crying. I stop, ask her what's wrong and she tells me 'I can't cheat on my boyfriend, it is wrong.'"

"So this is when I learned that the girl that I met on a dating website and that I started seeing 3 weeks before and that she told me she was single had a boyfriend for over 5 years. Got her to talk more, and she told me she was on the dating website to see if there were guys better than her boyfriend so she could end up with someone better."

"This was like 20 years ago, a coworker I have right now knows her (his girlfriend is like a distant relative of hers) and I learned she had 5 different boyfriends since then, cheated on all of them except the last one (for now). She was also a cam model in secret, one of the boyfriends was a high-paying customer."

draftstone

A Binding Contract

"'Pleasure doing sex business with ya.' We then shook hands."

"Still together 5 years later!"

Tatarstan

It's nice when people who have great sex make great partners.

And it all starts with a handshake.

Sleep on It

“'I don’t usually say this but, yeah, you can stay.'"

lennyukdeejay

"Did you high-five after that? Seems like that statement called for it."

EvilNinjaX24

"This is the best one."

TomKhatacourtmayfind

Tiny Dancer

"Not really weird but I slept with this girl while backpacking Asia, she was also a backpacker. After a bit of chillin'/talking, I got up to get dressed, she looked at my flaccid manhood and said 'You're quite shy when you're not excited.' I thought it was hilarious."

fleetwoodsackk

"That's a much better way to put it. My wife, when we were just dating and had moved in together and eventually saw it flaccid just said 'Aww, it's so little.' Thanks, hun, exactly what every guy wants to hear."

striker180

Fine!

"She said 'If I get pregnant I'm keeping it.' I was dumbfounded and when I didn't respond quickly enough she got really agitated like I had hurt her feelings and yelled 'Fine! You don't have to be involved if you don't want to!'"

"We had just met that night. My condom use skyrocketed after that night."

Fullyme

"When I was a poverty-stricken college student I was banging a girl who said, 'If you get me pregnant I’ll take you for everything you own.' I said, 'All I own is my bicycle. You want that?'”

OrwellWasRight101

Amen

"Best weird compliment I ever got was 'Damn boy, you f**k like the Devil!'"

"I married her, we still goin' at it."

BeBearAwareOK

Well, these certainly created some lasting relationships... or hilarious tales to tell their friends.

Do you have any stories to share? Let us know in the comments below.

woman in black pants and red tank top
Jakayla Toney on Unsplash

Giving compliments is pretty easy, although most of us don't do it often enough.

Accepting compliments can be much harder.

Too many of us immediately shift into disclaimers to explain why we don't deserve the praise.

But we just need to say thank you—even if the compliment is a little odd.

Keep reading...Show less
Woman standing alone in the rain
Neal E. Johnson on Unsplash

We can all agree that, as fun as it's supposed to be, the dating scene can be really, really hard.

Here's the secret: as hard as the dating scene can be to navigate, some of the trouble lies with us. We may not to be able to find a long-term partner or a date at all because of something that we're doing.

But when a friend is in this situation, it can be really hard to tell them the brutal truth about their dating history.

Redditor teekzer asked:

"What is causing your friend to remain single that you don't have the heart to tell them?"

Chasing Deadends

"He keeps hanging on to the past and spending all his time hanging out with ex-girlfriends who are unavailable, or women who like him but he doesn’t romantically like."

- SqueakySnapdragon

Baby Talk

"I always wondered why she couldn't get a date because she is gorgeous until I saw her flirting with someone."

"The first night they met, flirted, and swapped numbers. Then, she was immediately clingy, talking in a baby voice to him, and making baby noises."

- robocop_robocop

Body Odor

"I can smell them. Everyone can smell them."

- not-read-gud

"You should find a way to tell them, it might hurt but they'll appreciate it."

- iciclesnbdayclothes

The Nice Guy Mindset

"He really is not as nice of a person as he thinks he is."

- Rusti3dp

"The ones who claim this rarely are."

- SummerOfMayhem

Impossible Standards

"The people they like aren’t real. They are idealized, cartoonish caricatures. Now my friend himself has a lot to offer in my opinion, but he is looking for a person who doesn’t exist. Hard to find something that’s not there."

- Sufficient-Spell9935

"I have a friend who started dating his flatmate after being really into her for a while, and then after a week or two said something like, 'Dating you doesn't feel as good as I thought it would,' TO HER."

"He basically torpedoed his own potential relationship because of his own ideal fantasy, and to be honest, I don't know if he actually realized he'd created an unrealistic standard in his own head."

"He's been single for the last decade, his mental health has only got worse in the time I've known him despite therapy, and I think he's probably so detached from 'appropriate dating behavior' at this point that he could be single for the rest of his life."

- fish993

Questionable Humor

"Brother-in-law, not friend. But he makes the same jokes about poop and farts all the time. Like, constantly."

"Yes, some women like potty humor, but they usually also want it to be funny."

"He is also very negative; finds insult or something wrong with any situation."

- EatYourCheckers

Living in Fantasy Land

"He lies to himself about almost everything. He lives in fantasy land."

"He thinks he's in the gym five days a week, eats great, climbs mountains, goes camping, and makes loads of money."

"In reality, he's at the pub five days a week, over eats like s??t, went on one hike in January, can't hold a job, and lives paycheck to paycheck..."

"If you were to confront him with this reality, it wouldn't even get through to him."

- Fit_Yogurtcloset_291

Mismatched Attraction

"The type of guys she claims she likes isn't what she's actually attracted to."

"She keeps saying how much she loves shy introverted sensitive guys but when she finds one and dates him suddenly, she's like, 'He's not outgoing enough, doesn't speak his mind enough, and is too shy!'"

"I kind of think she has this 'I can fix him' syndrome and doesn't really acknowledge it. Like, she's attracted to the idea of a typical shy guy but thinks once they're in a relationship they'll suddenly be more open and turn into the guy she actually wants. That's not how it works!"

- Disig

Poor Self-Esteem

"She is so lovely. So kind, so generous, and so beautiful. But her crippling lack of self-esteem is so huge, it's visible from space, and her anxiety (and I'm 99% sure her undiagnosed ADHD) means that when she's at all nervous, she talks at 100 miles an hour in several directions at once."

"It's like being handed eight happy Labrador puppies to try and hold in your arms. I so badly want her to be happy and feel fulfilled but even I find it tiring sometimes."

- butwhatsmyname

The Negative Attitude

"I have two of these."

"One is the most talented, smartest, wonderful person I know and I wish I could pull the gremlins out of their brain so they could be happy."

"The other is self-fulfilling proficiency f**king up their life. He's not unlovable, or ugly, or uncared for, but walking through the world expecting rejection at all turns and living in a fog of negativity is what makes him unattractive to be around."

"So-and-so isn't hotter than you, that's not the reason they're getting more friends and lovers, but they are more positive and interested than you, and people are attracted to that company."

- cool_username_iguess

Just Pure Arrogance

"For my husband’s friend, it’s the selfish arrogance. I want what I want, and the subtext was that he never cared about what his girlfriend wanted."

"He would only go places he wanted to go, which never included her friends or family. He wanted to spend all his money on 'collectibles' related to sci-fi movies, DVDs, figurines etc."

"Engagement rings were a waste of money, investing, or buying a house ditto, no compromises were possible, he said NO, and no discussions were entertained."

"His opinion on every topic was the correct one, and he was not interested in your opinion, or listening to extra facts he did not know that might change his mind."

"He was once young and good-looking, and he thought he could find someone else when she walked when he was 32. They had dated for close to a decade. During the relationship, he had started to stack on the weight and losing his hair and he was not able to find a replacement."

"Now he is 49 and hasn’t had a girlfriend since. He still has not bought a house and they cost double what they did when they were dating, and his rent has tripled. He does have a copy of all his favorite movies in every format: VHS, DVD, AND BlueRay, a whole bedroom is dedicated to storing them, if you can get in there. His house is a hoarder's paradise."

"He says the reason no one wants him is because he is fat and bald, and it does not help, but it’s not the major turnoff."

"As for his ex, I don't really know what happened to her. She left all of us behind when they broke up. I did hear she got married, but no updates after that. She is a sweetheart, I wish all the good things for her."

- vicki153

Impossible to Move Forward

"Summarizing two types of my single friends:"

"Super successful, smart, funny, and good-looking. They also tend to go for folks who leave them on read for days. Their insecurities are their worst enemies and I think are the biggest factor of them chasing after partners who don’t want to be partners."

"Other friends don’t know how to commit to anything, including a job. It almost feels like a 'it’ll happen when it happens' type of ideology and so they don’t even try to make things happen? They act like things will happen on their own? So they’ll meet a person and then that’s it. Meet cute dead in the water."

- thunderkitty_

Too Desperate

"Desperation. From laughing way too hard at mediocre jokes to bringing up marriage on the first date, she reeks of it."

"We have all tried talking to her about it to no avail. The sad thing is that if she was just her regular funny, smart, relaxed self, then men would be falling over themselves trying to get her number."

- Julia_Sugarbaker123

A Want List

"Her standards are excessively too high. She brings nothing to a relationship. She's a walking contradiction, all of which is why she is single."

"I think it's great to have standards and high standards but hers is just a checklist of wants."

- Theunpolitical

Height Insecurities

"He’s convinced women won’t like him because he’s short. I keep telling him I know plenty of guys just as short as him in great relationships, I’ve dated guys as short as him in the past. He just refuses to believe it."

- MichaSound

"I dated a guy who was four feet, nine inches, and I'm five feet, four inches. He had such an amazing strong personality that you never noticed his height."

"I did find kissing standing up weird; the motions are so different when it's swapped."

"The relationship ended for other reasons than his height."

- lonelyronin1

Alternatively, Open to Feedback

"I had a friend who finally did just ask. He came up to the girls in our group and just let us have an open conversation. I'm sure it was awkward and uncomfortable for him, but we gently laid out some issues. He cut his hair, got some new clothes, and (the big one) started therapy."

"A couple of years later, guess who's got a wife and a wonderful child?"

- Stars-in-the-night

It's so disheartening to see the people we care about unable to have something that they would find so fulfilling like a long-term relationship.

But it's even worse when the reasons behind it are things they could work on, if we only had the guts to tell them or if they were open to hearing it.