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People Break Down Their Favorite Movies Where The Bad Guy Wins

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The Most Bad@ss People Who Ever Lived

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People Break Down The Greatest Villain Performances In Film Or TV History

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Movies Labeled For Kids That Adults Can Absolutely Enjoy

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The Best Examples Of Someone Going From 'Genius' To 'Idiot'

People Explain Which Characters Are Wrongly Portrayed As The Hero

People Explain Which Characters Are Wrongly Portrayed As The Hero
Photo by Cláudio Luiz Castro on Unsplash

It's hard to tell who the hero of a story might actually be. Sure, the author might center in on a specific character's arc, hoping we'll feel something for this person they've obviously invested a lot of time into. And, sure, we might leave the movie or finish the book thinking that character was heroic. With the passage of time, however, it becomes a little more obvious the individuall we were supposed to be rooting for was a horrific monster the entire time.

Reddit user, u/darkp25, wanted to hear who we should actually hate when they asked:

Who's wrongly portrayed as a hero?

Itsa Me, A VILLAIN.

Giphy

Mario. Lets Yoshi die to save himself, plays around with other women, kills thousands of Mushroom Kingdom citizens that have been turned into blocks, is a complete ahole towards his brother, etc. etc.

ThorsHelm

Cigars Can't Hide Actions Behind The Senes

Winston Churchill

The monster, the mass murderer is still portrayed as a hero in western countries.

lonewolf_soul

Winston Churchill committed some atrocities to the Scottish people, but so has every other U.K. government since, so we're kind of used to it now.

christophertit

To Be Fair, EVERYONE From "Watchmen" Is An Awful Human, And That's The Point.

[Rorschach] from WATCHMEN.

He's basically a realistic Batman but he's a complete sexist and homophobic a--hole. He claims to be fair but when a former ally of his said that her mom got raped by another hero called the comedian, Roarshac just shrugs it off by saying that the comedian served his country and that her mom was a whore anyways.

Watcher1101

Heard He Was A Big Party Boy, Too

Andrew Jackson.

Violates the constitution. Defies the supreme court. Massacres the native american populace by relocating them via the trail of tears.

Gets put on the $20 bill.

ArchDukeNemesis

This One Has Probably Been Talked To Death Online

Severus Snape. The movies watered this character down extremely. In the books, basically the only positive thing about him is that he's actually a "good" guy. He literally threatens to poison his students in book 4 to test their antidotes, and he fed a potion made by Neville to Trevor, expecting it to kill the frog and when it doesn't he punishes Hermione for helping Neville. He treated Harry horribly right from the get go simply because of his father.

He literally created a spell to make a person bleed out. He may've been on the side of the good guys but he was certainly no tragic hero like the movies made him out to be. He was a self-righteous, pompous, insufferable, arrogant prick.

RaspberryJam245

It's Not Just The MCU. It's ALL Incarnations Of Odin.

If you think about it Odin from the MCU is a dick. He has covered up everything and raised Hela to be a cold-hearted killer and banished her for doing what he wanted. He also lied to Loki about being Asgardian. He made Loki think he could be king. He also got overconfident with Malekith. He also treats people who are not Asgardians like sh!t. He also stole and killed many many people. He raised Thor to be a spoiled brat and got mad at him for it and banished him. He also died when Thor and Loki needed him to help them fight Hela. He's not a hero at all.

Electronic-Heart-902

Breaking The Law, No Matter How Funny It Is

Robin Williams' character in Mrs. Doubtfire. As a kid, I was mad at Sally Fields for ruining everyone's fun, but as an adult, holy sh-t, Robin Williams' character is the WORST. He sabotages his own career, destroys his house with zoo animals (going behind his wife's back to do so, after specifically being told not to have a crazy party), and literally tries to murder the new guy his ex-wife is dating (Pierce Brosnan's character) by serving him food he's allergic to.

Not to mention the basic plot of the movie, which is establishing a new identity to get closer to his kids whom he's not allowed to be around.

LotusPrince

No Update Can Fix That Odor

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Steve Jobs. Despite being worth a tremendous amount of money, he had to be sued for child support. Choosing to not provide for your family makes you a dirt bag.

LiroXII

Apparently he was a smelly dirt bag. Dude never washed because he believed being a fruititarian meant he had no body odour, his coworkers very much disagreed. He was known for being a visionary, but I guess not a smellanary.

TannedCroissant

From My Point Of View...

The Jedi.

Some ancient cult that kidnapped babies to turn them in to magical wizards with laser swords. The whole order were labeled as peace keepers but just turned into war generals serving a corrupt senate run by a f-cking Sith Lord

Ihazclawz

And Just To Add Insult To Injury

Stop me if you've heard this before.

Luke Skywalker.

He joins the rebellion and blows up the Death Star. Although we see it as awesome because he's the "hero", that action would have crippled the galactic economy and sent the government into a frenzy after the death of several important political figures. The Death Star took almost 20 years to build and would've been ludicrously expensive. It's like the 9/11 attacks but on a galactic scale.

And when Vader and Palpatine die, the government goes to complete anarchy after the death of their leaders. Despite the rebels being portrayed as "heroes", they're just a group of violent rebels pulling off a coup. So Luke, Leia, Han and all the rebels are violent criminals who overthrew a pretty stable government and crippled the galactic economy.

Annonimity21

For Those In The Back: THE PUNISHER IS NOT A HERO

The Punisher.

Same probably as Rorschach from Watchmen. The Punisher is an intriguing character, but not that great of a person, and certainly not a hero. It certainly depends on the writer, Netflix Punisher for example, is a lot more sympathetic than the 2019 run of comics Punisher. I'm sure lots of people fantasize (and carry out) vigilante justice but it's just not sustainable. Add to that at times Frank seems overly sadistic and goes out of his way to torture criminals makes things a bit problematic.

Especially in the world of 2020. This was addressed last year when some cops in the comic had a little "club" with Punisher logos on their cars that supported him (ha like real life!) and the Punisher told them to f-ck off and if they wanted a role model try Captain America. Honestly IMO it might be time to retire the character, give him a noble send off and let it be. Besides, almost every Punisher story is written the same way and ends up getting stale (that's why I unsubscribed from the books).

The fact that a lot of military personnel and law enforcement still to this day wear Punisher logos is a bit disturbing when you think about who it represents.

zebus_0

Doesn't Matter How Many Musical Numbers There Are, Still An Awful Guy.

PT Barnum in the Greatest Showman. Dude was definitely not a nice guy and completely focused on exploiting anyone with strange features.

He touted an old black woman around as George Washington's 160 year old nurse and, when she died, had her autopsy performed live on stage for an audience.

unnaturalorder

Popular Books. Awful Person.

As a naive kid who didn't understand the concept of an unreliable narrator I thought Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid was pretty cool, as an adult he is a rotten little piece of sh-t.

Majin-Buuddha

Yeah. In real life, the way he is in the books, he would just be that one weird ahole that no one likes. Not even bullied, everyone would just hate being around him.

ThanosCar012

A Long Lineage Of Mistakes

Zeus.

Zeus is a horrible person if you look at the actual Greek myths. Hades is a pretty good dude though.

Zerodot0

Definitely.

Zeus was disloyal to Hera and is a rapist and it's treated like a running joke. Hades was loyal to his wife and even the idea that he "kidnapped" Persephone has been mostly discredited in modern translations/interpretations. It's likely one of the most loving and consensual relationships in Greek mythology. All of the gods are flawed and jealous and everything but altogether, Hades (and Persephone) are some of the least so, while Zeus is one of the worst.

jemdamos

How Did We Never Notice This One Growing Up?

Jack from jack and the beanstalk

The guy literally sold his fathers cow for some beans, and then he'd break and enter into the giants home and then MURDER him

Anon20008

Seriously, How Can Anyone Still Idolize That Guy?

Giphy

Thomas Edison.

Dude was smart, but a total scumbag.

EDIT: I just felt the need to elaborate a little more on why Edison is trash. But first, some things to know:

Many people will want you to think he stole everything and invented nothing at all, but history is actually a little fuzzy on that. He was a smart man, but most of his influence stems from his vast marketing skill, and deep pockets of cash.

Many inventions that Edison is credited with, were not invented by him, but likely these things would not have been as popular, or widely used or influential without the cash and influence from Edison.

He deserves only trace amounts of credit for helping those good inventions along, because here are (a few) of the reasons Thomas A. Edison was human garbage:

  • A popular technique of his was slander. Using his money and influence he destroyed many of his opponents (actual brilliant inventors and their ideas) because he cared more about money than the progression of science and technology.
  • In experiments with X-rays, he resorted to irradiating his employees; thankfully he also irradiated himself and almost went blind. Bastard deserved it.
  • He did indeed kill elephants, but on top of that, he killed dogs, cats, and other neighborhood pets. He's pay kids in the neighborhood to bring him animals so he could electrocute them to show just how dangerous his competitors' technology was.
  • Speaking of electrocution, we have Edison to thank for the electric chair. Another smear campaign to harm a competitor. The first execution took 8 minutes, multiple attempts, and the prisons skin bled and burned. Smell was so bad it's noted in many accounts. According to Edison, 'all the excitement had caused some bungling'
  • Mid-World War I, Tesla was working on radar. A piece of technology that could've saved many lives, and improved allied military intelligence. (Tesla's theories and research for radar, and further development was rejected, not radar itself.) When presented to the US Navy's head of Research & Development (none other than the pile of trash we call Thomas Edison) prevented the further R&D of radar. Later on this research would be the backbone for the actual development of radar in the 30's.

I'm sure there are more stories, but these are the ones I am aware of. I hope history will one day look upon Edison in the way he deserves.

I think back to my third grade class where we learned how important his contributions were, and how he gave us the lightbulb! Hogwash. The man was scum, and glorifying him is a gross misrepresentation of his impact.

HoarsePJ

The Most Embarrassing Things People Have Ever Googled

Reddit user b-secret asked: 'what is the most embarrassing thing you have ever Googled?'

woman in black long sleeve shirt covering her face
Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

I freely admit I'm of a certain age where my primary education occurred before the age of the internet—when our questions were answered with conversations with experts, encyclopedias or knowing how to use card catalogs.

My knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System is largely useless today.

Research is drastically different now—sorry Melvil Dewey. Internet search engines quickly became the difference between occasionally finding an outdated version of the information we were looking for and rarely not finding current information on the most obscure of topics.

Unless your Google game is super weak, you're likely to find what you're looking for or something close to it unlike the good old days when our chances were hit or mis—with lots of misses.

So what do we use this amazing, life-changing tool for?

Well...

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technology

People Divulge The Scariest Thing They Learned About Someone From Their Childhood

person holding photo of three girls near chainlink fence
Anita Jankovic on Unsplash

Life is all about learning new things, including learning new things about the people in your life. Sometimes, the things you learn are shocking, disgusting, or even scary.

I was the new kid in town when I was in fifth grade and my first friend was this quiet (and cute) boy in my class. He and I remained friends through middle school, and even though we drifted apart in high school, our interactions when we ran into each other in the halls or the cafeteria were really nice.

All throughout school and even beyond, he remained quiet, polite, and reserved. Just a few years ago, I read a news article written about him. He had apparently fatally wounded his father after an argument.

I had to reread the article several times to make sure it was really about my old friend. I think about it a lot, and still can't believe it!

I'm not the only one that has a shocking story like that. A lot of Redditors learned shocking or scary things about people from their childhood, and are ready to share.

It all started when Redditor ValuableHovercraft90 asked:

"What's the scariest thing you have found out about someone from your childhood (old friends, teachers, etc)?"

So Creepy

"That the boy who lived across the street and moved when I was 6 is still obsessed with me and my sister 30+ years later and posts ramblings on Facebook with our names and that he's going to be with us. Pretty terrifying honestly."

– mrscrawfish

The Worst List

"A neighbour died when he was 30. Police searched a trailer he owned and found weapons, bombs and a list of people he wanted to kill. My uncle was on that list."

– Flashy_Somewhere_648

"I'm glad this ended the way it did."

– CreepyCandidate4449

Terrifying

"One of my best friends (and locker partner) from high school was kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq. After a nightmare of 6+ months, all went silent. We buried an empty casket in his memory 10 years later."

– francois_du_nord

"This is horrifying. How incredibly sad for family to never get any closure. Very sad to read this. :("

– fizzycherryseltzer

"About 15 years ago my dad received a very good offer for work in Iraq, as a construction specialist. He was considering going, since at the same time the financial crisis started in Europe, but then one of his friends, a civil engineer, was kidnapped. Never returned back either."

– 19lgkrn70

"Same thing for my dad old coworker told him how great the money was. Dude got sniped working on a radio tower or something. My dad luckily was like, "I got a wife and family that would kill me for doing something so dangerous.""

– tristanjones

End Of The Friendship

"One of my dad's good friends, and my "uncle", just stopped coming around one day. I was told he was always busy with work, away, etc."

"Turns out, he killed 3 people in a drug deal gone bad and got life in prison."

"What's scary, is that we were over at his house for a weekend BBQ with a bunch of people earlier in the day of the night he did it, and it happened at his house."

– pnwking509

School Friends

"Don't know if it was scary, but I grew up with a kid whose birthday was the day before mine so we almost always shared birthdays in elementary school. We were friends, even spent the night at his house growing up. Later on in our teens, he started getting into some really dark stuff. I recognize that now as his being a sociopath, but like most everybody else at the time, figured it was just him going through some kind of emo phase. Over the years, we lost touch but I would occasionally run into him around town and our meetings were cordial, if not friendly."

"Last year, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing a man back in 1993, roughly 3 years after we got out of High School. Apparently he, his sister and another man lured this guy out to the boonies and killed him to steal money he had gotten in an insurance settlement."

"The only reason they were caught is the other guy got religion, felt remorse and went on the local TV station and aired a confession before turning himself in (He got 25 to life)."

– 530_Oldschoolgeek

"A girl I went to school with did the same thing. She was the nicest girl, got good grades & was kind of a dork. Mixed with the wrong people after graduation. She and two others lured an old man into an abandoned building, stabbed him and robbed him. He later died from his wounds."

– HereF0rTheSnacks

The Worst Afternoon

"I had a friend in grade school who was being raised by her single dad. She had a unique name and pretty face. She never talked about her mom, and she was super outgoing, so all us kids just made friends with her quickly. It was weird her dad never brought her to our birthday parties, even though she was always invited, but we didn’t think much of it. A couple times, she was allowed to ride the bus home with me after school, and we played and had fun until her dad came to pick her up. Later in the school year, she invited me to ride the bus to her house, and my mom agreed. I was 10. It was the scariest afternoon of my young life. I cannot articulate the extreme tension in her home. We weren’t allowed to make any noise, and we mostly stayed outside, me desperate for my mom to arrive."

"Her dad screamed at us for opening the door, and I was too nervous to go into the house to use the restroom. I knew she was embarrassed that there were no snacks or comforting interactions, like at my house. I didn’t really tell anyone how uncomfortable the experience was. After that day, I didn’t hang out with her a lot. We were in different classes, drifted apart, and decades later, when my own daughter asked to go to a friend’s house, I thought about that girl."

"As an adult, I figured out her dad probably worked a night shift and tried to sleep during the day…or he was an alcoholic who was really angry. Maybe both? I looked her up on social media, and thanks to her unique name and face, I recognized her immediately. She’s a perfectly well-adjusted woman with a beautiful family. She even had pictures of her kids with her dad and tributes to him as the greatest father and grandpa. Her whole page made me wonder what the hell I experienced that afternoon in the 4th grade?"

– OlderAndTired

School Is Supposed To Be Safe!

"In our school, we had something called "de halte." In English, it means "the halt" literally translated. Basically time out. BIf you had a meltdown in class or you were just a little sh*thead, you were sent there for 15 minutes or so to cool off.

The de hatle teacher got fired and jailed for breaking 4 different wrists of 4 different students by bending them the wrong way..."

– Ok_Win7358

*Skin Crawling*

​"There was this classmate a grade below me but all grades shared the same drama class. She was weird and kind of "off." I tried to befriend her at one point and was rebuffed. It later came out that she was actually an almost 30-year-old woman who would show up in a new area claiming to be a 15-year-old runaway. Kind of freaked me out."

– jackfaire

It turns out it was a good thing that the friendship didn't work out!

scary secrets

Restaurant Red Flags To Look Out For

Group of people dining out at a restaurant
Dan Gold on Unsplash

When we think of the term "red flags," we're quick to think of red flags that might appear in a problematic or abusive relationship.

But red flags can appear in any place in our life, especially the workplace or places that consumers frequent, like big box stores and restaurants.

When it comes to restaurant red flags, these are important to note, as they could have a negative impact on a consumer's health.

Redditor FlintTheDad asked:

"What's an immediate red flag at a restaurant?"

Fair Enough

"When you see the owner breaking apart frozen chicken on the curb outback."

- Mourning-Poo

High Humidity

"High humidity inside."

- Presitigious_Gold_585

"Yes! The small that causes is unmistakable."

- TemperatureTop246

Sticky Furniture

"All of the furniture and menus are weirdly sticky..."

- Silver_Sunshine360

"I know what *some* of that is. Some furniture and cleaning solutions aren't compatible. The cleaning spray reacts with the finish on the table tops, and softens, it, which makes it feel a bit sticky, and dulls it super fast... but it's the sanitizer cleaner they use for *everything*, and they don't want to have to deal with a separate cleaner for certain surfaces."

"I used to sell commercial office furniture, and we'd run into this issue sometimes. The worst was when a company asked us to source some tables they found from a local craftsman (since we were already an approved vendor in their system, they often had us buy and deliver stuff for them). Beautiful, hand-made stuff."

"So we bought them and arranged for the delivery and placement. When we got to the site and saw where they wanted them, I cringed... I knew the tables were finished in shellac, and they were having us put them in their lounge area, where I knew they often had events with drinks."

"Shellac dissolves in alcohol. Spilling a drink on it can ruin the finish. Before we left, I left a note on the tables about being careful and emailed the client some care tips. The NEXT DAY they sent us pictures of the ruined finish, asking, 'What is wrong with our tables?!'"

- NecroJoe

Sounds Fishy

"A seafood restaurant should NOT smell fishy."

- turtyurt

"And conversely, a seafood MARKET that does not smell fishy is indeed fishy."

- FourMeterRabbit

A Specific Smell

"That *smell.*"

"You know the one. floors feel a little slippery/slimy underfoot and it smells like they've been mopping the place with the same dirty mop and bucket water for weeks."

"This isn't something you're likely to see in a nice place but I've encountered it in more fast-casual dining places than I care to remember."

- y2knole

"THAT smell. It always reminds me of yeast rolls. I guess it's bacteria in the mop water that has been setting in that bucket for three days."

- SpeelingChamp

Restroom Cleanliness

"Dirty restrooms."

- carboncanyondesign

"This is a dead giveaway. If they can't keep part of the restaurant that the public DOES see clean, you can imagine how the non-public facing parts look."

- OkaySureBye

"Health inspector here. The key is to look for build-up that looks like it's been there more than a day. Most places don't have bathroom attendants and it's unrealistic to expect public bathrooms to be spotless every minute of the day."

- Vives_solo_una_vez

The Right Audience

"Whenever I have friends come to visit me in Osaka and they're dying to try some authentic ramen. My goto line is:"

"'Look for the most run-down looking, back ally shack you can, the more run-down looking; the better. Guaranteed It'll be the best ramen you'll ever have!'"

"And to anyone who happens to read this, no, Ichiran is NOT the best reman joint. It's nice don't get me wrong but please ask around, research ramen in the area you're visiting, I guarantee you there's SO much better out there!"

- kevo998

"I look for people of that ethnicity eating there. Mexican restaurant with only white people? It might be good. Mexican restaurant with Mexicans wearing high-vis shirts? S**t's going be fire. Bonus points if there’s a grocery store attached."

"The same thing goes for Asian restaurants sans the high-vis shirts."

- PsychoticMessiah

Too Many Variables

"A huge menu."

- dnb_4eva

"A huge VARIED menu."

"Places like Chinese, Mexican, and Indian restaurants generally have large menus, but most items use the same base ingredients."

"It's the places that try to incorporate lots of wildly different dishes that you want to avoid."

- MagnusPI

Unexpected Restaurant Guests

"A raccoon falling through the ceiling tiles. 1:00 AM, drunk as h**l, looking for something to eat, and I found a dive that was still open. I ordered my food, and while waiting for my order, a raccoon fell from the ceiling."

"The waitress ran to the back screaming. The cook came out armed with a cleaver and chased it into the kitchen. The look on his face was like it had happened before. Other people eating there were in shock and got up and left."

"Mystery meat: the new special. Get me the f**k out of there."

- alwaystired707

That Wait Time

"I immediately look to see if there is anyone actually eating. If there are a half dozen tables with no food on them, and people looking anxiously to the kitchen, I'm out."

- scotttr3b

Cleaning Response Time

"Multiple dirty tables that haven’t been cleared. If the restaurant isn’t crowded, staff should have time to clean them. If it is crowded, staff should be trying to turn tables over quickly."

"Dirty tables mean they are either severely understaffed or the staff just doesn’t care. Either way, you will be waiting a long time."

- 787la57la47al

Inappropriate Smells

"Once went into a restaurant that boasted the biggest Cinnamon Rolls in the city/state... Only for there to be a pervasive smell of absolutely raw stagnate sewage throughout the dining room. Needless to say, did not return."

- nekroves

Construction Said It Best

"A green flag for a restaurant is when you see a lot of construction workers going there for lunch. You'll know it's cheap and good, hearty food."

"In my old city, there was this tiny little family-owned Chinese restaurant with delicious and cheap lunch specials. Every construction worker downtown sat at the counter at the front for lunch."

"Meanwhile, the waiters would be in this little back room watching TV and the chef must have been at least 70 years old. The food was genuinely so delicious and filling. Probably not good for your cholesterol but so tasty!"

- okaymoose

Atmosphere Matters

"Not a red flag about the food but if a place has their music up so loud I can’t hear the person I’m with, then I won’t eat there."

- Adro87

"Conversely, if it's TOO quiet; as in, not only is the sound system way too low, but if the customers are also weirdly quiet (barely having conversations, just sort of sitting there) and the atmosphere seems almost stifling."

"A couple of years ago we walked into a gastropub in Scotland just like this - very low music, the room was half full (and this was at peak lunch time), and everyone who was there were just sitting, looking sullen, barely speaking, waiting for their food. Just really... odd... vibes."

"After five minutes of sitting at the bar trying to get the attention of staff (who were all standing around looking at their phones), we left and went to a definitely *not fancy* cafe down the block that was the absolutely opposite: people just seemed happy to be there, staff were attentive, and the vibe was really welcoming."

- Good_Difference_2837

The Ultimate Red Flag

"Gordon Ramsey walking in with a camera crew."

- Tint-kicker

"One of the local restaurants we like was recently closed for a bit due to filming for 'Kitchen Nightmares.'"

"My husband still likes to get their food, but I'm waiting until the episode airs!"

- Lington

No restaurant is going to be perfect 100 percent of the time. They're going to have a slow night or poor response time or get some orders wrong from time to time.

But there are far more problematic behaviors and characteristics to find in a restaurant that are perfectly good reasons to never go back there again, no matter how good they may have been in the past.

restaurant red flags

People Who Witnessed A Teacher Break Down In Tears Share Their Experiences

Apple on a stack of textbooks
Element5 Digital/Unsplash

Teachers are not only educators, they're also inspiring leaders.

The most memorable teachers are those who genuinely encourage young students to do their best so they can be empowered to pursue their dreams.

However, we tend to revere them to such a degree, we forget that they're people too with real emotions.

Curious to hear from strangers who witnessed a vulnerable moment from someone they were inspired by at an early age, Redditor throwthrowwthrowwww asked:

"Students who've witnessed their teacher cry during class, what happened?"

There's no bigger heartbreak than people who are struggling with illnesses or know of someone facing medical challenges.

Ailing Teacher

"One of our music instructors 7th-12th grade. She had a long ongoing battle with stage three/four cancer. She always did her best to try to have fun during our classes, like it was an escape for her because she loved music so much. Over 85% of the entire high school joined choir because of her. Her chemo and radiation treatments left her exhausted some days, though, and she would occasionally break down. In 2012, when her condition worsened, she would have to take more days off because the cancer had become so debilitating."

"We continued to practice our songs while she was gone, and I swear we would sometimes spend an hour on one small section of a song, ripping every note apart, and repeating the same words over and over until we couldn't mess it up. One of the final days in class with her, I remember we were rehearsing for our upcoming state competition, and we sounded damn good. Mid-song, she stopped conducting, closed her eyes, folded her hands, and listened as we continued singing for her. The energy and sound was so profound throughout the room, I can't find the words to describe it."

"After the song finished, we stood in a long, complete silence before she opened her eyes with tears streaming down her face. She wasn't able to go to our state competition with us, but we ended up placing that year. It wasn't first like we were hoping, but it was the highest the school had ever placed. She later passed away that same year. She was one of the strongest women I had ever met in my life."

– Top-Box2372

Losing A Student

"My high school Spanish teacher also taught some homebound students with medical issues."

"One day the vice principal came into our class and told Ms J that one of her homebound students had passed away from his cancer. She couldn't hold back the tears."

– que_he_hecho

Wise Toddler

"I’m a teacher, I cried in front of my toddlers when I got a call from the hospital telling me it was time to make the call as to whether to pull my dads life support. One of my toddlers came up to me while I was crying, put her hand on my cheek and said 'it’s ok to feel sad, it’s ok to cry,' then gave me a hug. I love my job."

– Cheekygirl97

Students witnessed the following teachers get emotional.

Thoughtful Sixth-Graders

"The class surprised him on teacher appreciation day. Someone brought pop, snacks etc. He was surprised. 6th grade teacher."

– Stephlynn1234

Appreciation Day

"Had a philosophy course in uni during covid. So the class was held on zoom. It wasn't teacher appreciation day, but it was the second to last lecture of the term and we all really enjoyed this prof (and because of him most of the class became friends). So we organized an appreciation thing for him."

"We all started class without our cameras on, which was unusual and made him question (he got sad actually). So one girl said 'before we start, we just really wanted to do something for YOU because you've done so much for us. I hope this is okay.' He gave us a confused look, and before he could say anything in response we all turned our cameras on and held up signs saying 'thank you professor [name]' and our green screen backgrounds were of his face lol. He laughed so hard but started crying. Told us how he wished we could do this in person and that he genuinely cared about all of us."

"He had a lot of health issues, the most prominent one being MS. Whenever he didn't start class on time we all got worried, and there were a few times where he cancelled altogether because he fell or something. He also had a cat, and we asked to see him just enough times that his cat learned what time our class was at and would climb up to see us and stay the whole class. It was cute. During the breaks he would email a link to play chess since he lived far from his family and couldn't visit and wanted the company. We organized a Christmas movie day with him over the Christmas break and he loved it. He retired after the following year because of his health, and I still wonder what he's doing now and if he's doing okay. I've been in uni for 5 years now and he is the only prof I've actually spoken to consistently and genuinely liked."

– Burnt_Your_Toast

Sad Literature

"5th grade teacher reading Where the Red Fern Grows out loud to the class. He shed some tears. He did every year."

– SnoBunny1982

"Our teacher read that book to us in 5th grade also. But when it got to that part, she elected me to read it and she left the room. Luckily I had read it before and knew what was coming, but it was still rough."

– MIBariSax81

The Private Life Of An English Teacher

"I forgot his name, but he was one of my favored teachers in high school. He taught English."

"During class, he was called out to talk to some members of the school administration and a few proctors. It took several minutes. But he returned, taught as much of the class as he could, and then just walked over to his desk and started crying. Whimpering. He then left."

"He just found out his wife, who had also been a teacher, was having an affair with one of the female students. We didn't find out that specific fact until later on though."

– Typical_Samaritan

Some students, however, can force a teacher to realize they're in the wrong profession.

Bad Attitude

"Student that had behavior issues and a hard time maintaining emotional regulation threw his recorder (the instrument) at the music teacher and it snapped in half. He then threw his desk in her direction and walked out. This was 3rd grade, and all she had asked him to do was listen to the song we were learning. She quit the next week after almost 30 years of teaching."

– Last_Tuesdays_Beans

Bullying The Substitute

"Ms. Hanlon... Substitute teacher, I still think about her and hope she's doing well. She was posted as the teacher when the usual teachers were off sick. Absolutely zero respect was given to her and the class knew if we had Ms. Hanlon it was just an extended lunch, we could just mess around and act like animals for the whole lesson."

"She had physical conditions like a dent in her forehead and a gravvely voice which prevented her from being able to raise her voice to tell us to be quiet. So the kids would all do Hunchback of Notre Dame impressions, spitballs through straws and do the 'coughing game' where they would just cough through whatever she was trying to say."

"Even as a kid I felt kinda awful after we'd essentially broken her and she'd just come in not even say hello and pull open a book for the hour and sometimes cry into it. I weirdly still think about her randomly once or twice a month, I hope she moved on to way better things. School children really have no filter at all."

– PNCL

Absolutely Zero Respect

"Substitute teacher in Jr High must be among the world's worse jobs. 8th grade we had a sub that demanded and got no respect. Kids would throw stuff at her etc. She left the classroom crying then the vice principal, who was not to be messed with, came in and took over."

– woolash

Major Mockery

"I had a substitute teacher named Mr. Crane who looked exactly like Ichabod Crane from the old cartoon. Some kids in the class bullied him relentlessly for this and he just kind of broke down one day. Poor guy."

– backflip10019

In seventh grade, I witnessed a classmate talk back to our homeroom teacher and saying very inappropriate, bullish things to her in front of the whole class.

But that didn't make her cry.

What made her tear up was when another student defended her and yelled at the bullying student for being out of line.

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