Students Reveal How A Teacher Made Them Cry In Class
[rebelmouse-image 18359537 is_animated_gif=Dear Ms Jackson,
You made third grade terrible. You picked on me endlessly, called me "slower than Christmas" about a dozen times a day, told me I would never be anything, and made fun of me when I cried while I was being interviewed for the school news show. I was a scared shy little kid being interviewed about her dad suddenly being shipped off to war. Obviously I cried. You suck.
Love Always,
Me.
WHEW! That was therapeutic. So many kids have that "one" teacher, Ms. Jackson was one. One reddit user asked:
Has a Teacher ever made you cry in class? How/Why?
So of course we got a bunch of stories about terrible teachers, but there were also a few gems in the trash! Woo!
Stolen Homework
[rebelmouse-image 18360471 is_animated_gif=When I was in 3rd grade, a boy stole my homework out of the turn in bin, erased my name and wrote his name on it.
The teacher gave me a zero and said I should have written my name on my paper if I wanted the grade.
You could still see my name under his :(
Professor
[rebelmouse-image 18349274 is_animated_gif=My professor for Materials Science in college was notorious for being extremely hard on people that used cell phones and left early. One day a kid gets a call, answers it, gets really silent and then starts to leave. Our professor was livid, demanding that he come to the front of the class to apologize, and when the kid protests he practically started screaming. The kid is in tears at this point walking to the front and apologized to the silent classroom.
Yeah it turns out his grandma died and that's what the phone call was about....
A Dollar For Paper
[rebelmouse-image 18360472 is_animated_gif=In 9th grade, I had this World History teacher, Mr. Wyatt, who had a big issue with spiral bound paper. All I had was spiral bound paper, my parents didn't have money for loose-leaf paper because we were dirt poor. He made this huge deal about "everyone has a DOLLAR for paper" in front of my class and pretty much called me a liar and I cried. He actually sent me to the in-house detention because I was lying and not following his rule about the stupid paper-every day for about a week. A nice office lady asked why I kept going to the office because I seemed like a "nice girl" so I told her and they gave me a stack of paper, a 3 ring binder and some pencils.
The Domino Effect
[rebelmouse-image 18360473 is_animated_gif=My first grade teacher got a note from the office saying she was needed home. She was one of the first people who had a cell phone that I knew so she got it out during class and called home. An EMT answered, her husband had killed himself and her little boy had seen it. She started sobbing. When little kids see an adult crying, the domino effect kicks in. Most of our class started crying because we knew something really bad happened.
She ran out and our principal came in about a minute later and finished the day out for Mrs. S. She didn't come back for a few weeks. Our substitute teacher had all of us make cards for Mrs. S and I remember I tried to draw a rose and tell her how sorry I was.
Who Told You To Move
[rebelmouse-image 18360474 is_animated_gif=5th grade PE teacher had a rule that we cannot play tag during lunch time because she did not like disheveled-looking prepubescent girls. Being the annoying kids that we were, we completely ignored the rule and played until the bell rang. When she called us to line up, she exploded. She shouted at us to tuck our shirts and wipe our faces. So, I did. She threw a chair at me, screaming who the hell told me to move. Metal part of the chair hit my legs and I wailed
I didn't want to tell my mom because I was afraid she'll blame it on me, but I could hardly walk because my left leg was swollen. Mom angrily talked to school admin the next day. Teacher got fired but I think my parents did not press charges.
Openly Mocking
[rebelmouse-image 18354762 is_animated_gif=I had a teacher that would openly mock me in class regularly and then when I tried to hide behind my hair because I was crying would make me stand up and tie my hair back so everyone could see that I was crying.
Yep, f* that guy.
Senior Skip Day
[rebelmouse-image 18353507 is_animated_gif=Yes, it happened to me in my senior year of highschool during english.
I've struggled with depression for a better part of my life, and my senior year it got extremely bad. I skipped school at least once a week, usually more. My grades all went to hell, despite always being relatively well off academically. I was going through a lot of different things, but didn't really feel like I was "worthy" of help. My English teacher that year was also my English teacher my sophomore year, so we were already on good terms. He noticed my poor attendance, bad grades, I'm sure the lack of effort in my appearance as well. Some days when I missed school he'd call me and ask where I was, he left a few voice mails, he was clearly disappointed in me and worried.
The day he made me cry was actually senior skip day. I wasn't having an awful day so I actually went to school, it was going to be an easy day so I might as well not have the absence on my record. When I got to English, I was the only student there, absolutely none of my classmates showed up. At first my English teacher started laughing, understandably. "Class" started, and I was studying for our final exam coming up, I would fail the class if I didn't do well, and it was an AP course. He came up to me and started talking to me, he said he noticed I haven't been myself lately and was concerned, and he knew I was a better student than that. We kept taking, about my depression, a recent split from a three year relationship, my home life, my struggle with drug abuse. He told me I was worth something, that he believed in me, at one point he said he wishes he could've adopted me and done more to help. I couldn't stop crying, I was so overwhelmed. Nobody had ever said things like this to me before, I'd never heard anyone tell me they were proud of me. When I went to walk across the stage at graduation, he was in the front row. He looked at me and gave me a thumbs up, and said something to the effect of "You got this, I'm proud of you." and I think about that everyday. He had more faith in me than anyone ever has and its something I'll never forget.
100 People Burst Into Applause
[rebelmouse-image 18360475 is_animated_gif=I had a professor at law school on the verge of retirement. There was one class at the law school that was an introductory one that kind of stood in for orientation - it was pass/fail and it allowed the doe-eyed 1Ls to get the hang of reading casebooks without having to worry about real grades. It was nice.
My professor had written the textbook for this class and was largely responsible for the school assimilating this program. Everyone loved having this class, by the way. It was an awesome way to ease into the scariness of law school. The thing is, he was this scary, booming, large old man. VERY intimidating. At the time, he seemed to epitomize the type of professor you'd see in The Paper Chase. If he didn't hear you, he'd shout "USE YOUR DIAPHRAGM." There were moments he'd interrupt a student in the middle of talking and say "No, you're not understanding the question. I'm going to move on." We were generally really scared of him and most people were kind of resentful that he put so much pressure on us for a class that was intended to be chill.
On the last day of this class, though, he talked about how he was going to retire. Then he spoke about how this class was his baby, he cares about it so much, he's been so impressed with our performance, etc. At the very end, he choked up and said, "If only the school would let me, I would continue teaching this class until I die."
After speaking, he walked down the aisle of the lecture hall out the doors. There was a moment of silence, and the entire class of 100 people burst into applause.
I started sobbing. Idk, there's just something about a stately old intimidating man being that affectionate and vulnerable that just makes me feel this visceral sense of compassion. Damn.
Familial Hate
[rebelmouse-image 18360476 is_animated_gif=My 10th grade teacher erased my name off of my midterm paper and wrote another students name on it. Then he called home to tell my parents I skipped and didn't hand in my mid term.
We went in, he handed me the pile of tests and told me to find it. 3 papers in I saw the name of a student who I knew wasn't in class (we were decent friends) looked closely and you could see the marks in the paper from my name. I have a heavy hand, you can't erase the chasms I dig into papers when I write. The teacher back-pedals and says he found that paper on the floor at the end of class and thought it was another students so that's why he wrote their name on it.
Thankfully, I didn't have to rewrite it. I was removed from his class and put into a different teachers class where I did decently better. But the teacher never got any trouble for the situation, and 2 years later was huge d!ck to my younger sister. We share a mutual last name and I guess we look alike. He took out his dislike of me on her until she requested to be removed from his class.
He still never saw any reprimand.
Graphing Calculators Change Lives
[rebelmouse-image 18360477 is_animated_gif=She wouldn't let me go back to my locker to get my graphing calculator before a test. She had two on her desk and I couldn't use those either because I should have brought my own. She told me I had to take the test without it, but the problems on the test were impossible to do without a graphing calculator. The girl I sat next to saw me crying at my desk as the teacher passed out the test.
She went around to every kid in the class personally asking if they had an extra calculator I could use. She ended up getting one for me. She was one of the nicest, most popular people in school, and I was so shy that thinking about it later I wasn't sure I would have done that for another student. That one girl kind of inspired me, I have always tried to be nicer to people after that.
That teacher was always horrible though.
New Rule
[rebelmouse-image 18347846 is_animated_gif=I'm the teacher. Student had missed the previous class when I handed back papers. It was a three-hour class: she asked me for her paper at the break. I gave it to her, and then had to watch her cry for an hour in class over her B+. New rule for myself: never ever give papers back until the end of class, so students can go cry over their B+ grades in private.
Brad
[rebelmouse-image 18354291 is_animated_gif=I once watched a teacher lead a chant making fun of a kid in 6th grade. The kid had been surprised by a spider crawling on him and let out a high-pitched scream. The teacher made fun of him and then started chanting:
"Brad's A Girl! Brad's A Girl!"
He encouraged the class to join. Brad eventually started crying and sat in his seat.
The teacher was a real jerk.
Nasty Divorce
[rebelmouse-image 18360478 is_animated_gif=In 1st Grade, I had a teacher, we'll call her Mrs. R, that became a royal b* halfway through the year. I can remember one time she refused to let me go use the restroom. I obeyed like a good boy and waited until I couldn't handle it anymore. I asked once more and she refused, resulting in me pissing myself in front of the whole class. When she found out what happened, she yelled at me, called me a baby and sent me to the principle. My parents became suspicious and complained to the school board (they had friends on the board). Turns out, Mrs. R was going through a nasty divorce at the time and was taking her anger out on us.
I was moved to a different class shortly after and never saw her again.
Violent Men
[rebelmouse-image 18360479 is_animated_gif=My papers in my binders got disorganized so I was trying to organize them again. He got mad, picked up my binder, and threw it across the classroom. I was 7. My dad was violent with me too sometimes so my male teacher doing this to me at school overwhelmed me.
Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?
[rebelmouse-image 18360480 is_animated_gif=Funny story, we had to decorate these paper snowmen in first grade and I wanted mine to be realistic so I unscrewed the cap of the glue bottle and poured it all over the snowman.
When the teacher saw what I had done, she ran over and this conversation ensued:
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
"I wanted to make snow..."
"NOOO!!!" accompanied by stare
I started crying. That moment is vividly burned into my memory.
Math Homework
[rebelmouse-image 18360481 is_animated_gif=I was in my 6th grade math class, and the teacher had it out for me for whatever reason.
I was a really good kid, and I was quiet and pretty good at math, but I didn't like it. I did, however, love to draw.
So one day, my math teacher finishes the lesson and tells us all to work on homework. For context, in my language arts class we had been given an assignment to illustrate a chapter of the book we were reading.
I was sitting quietly and working on my drawing for my other class, and the teacher comes up behind me and asks me why I'm not working on homework. I tell her about the assignment from my other class, and she starts yelling at me in front of my whole class that she meant MATH HOMEWORK and how could a DRAWING POSSIBLY be HOMEWORK ANYWAYS?
Then she tore my drawing in half and I cried.
I went to the bathroom to continue crying. For context, I didn't have a ton of friends in the 6th grade but all the other kids thought that what the teacher did was so horrible that the other girls followed me into the bathroom to comfort me, which was really nice.
Then my dad went to a parent/teacher conference with her, and told her that every kid has "that teacher" and that she would forever be mine. And whaddaya know, he was right.
First Grade
[rebelmouse-image 18360482 is_animated_gif=I was in first grade. My PE coach really did not like me, she was always putting me in time out for breaking the rules. Rules I didn't even know were rules, like sliding or swinging on your belly or picking up rocks off of the playground.
One day we were playing a game of Telephone in the cafeteria on a rainy day. The girl who whispered in my ear...well. I couldn't understand her. It just sounded like wet spitting in my ear. I asked her to repeat herself and she did. Wet spitting. At that point I was scrambling to make something up to pass along, and the coach was loudly pressing me to hurry up and think of something. I guess I thought about it too long, because she snapped at me that I'd ruined the game, and then she put my nose in the corner for the rest of PE time while everyone else played. I just sat there quietly crying, and I wasn't even allowed to look out the window at the rain because she'd tell me to turn my head back to the wall.
Valentine
[rebelmouse-image 18360484 is_animated_gif=In first grade we were making Valentines out of folded construction paper. We were supposed to write a message on one section of the folded heart or whatever it was. I got confused somehow and wrote the message on the wrong section. When the teacher got to my desk she noticed my mistake. She lifted my hand from the desk and slammed it down hard on top of the Valentine. It hurt and I was so shocked I just sat there in stunned silence with tears rolling down my cheeks. Can you imagine doing that to a 6-y/o over something so insignificant as a paper heart? I still think about this 53 years later.
Early Injustice
[rebelmouse-image 18360485 is_animated_gif=In 3rd grade, I got blamed for talking in line when it was the two kids in front and behind me. We all had to write a letter home to our parents (kinda overblown), and I just cried, partially cause I didn't know what to say. I remember thinking this was clearly an obvious mix up especially since I never so much as got called out by an adult for misbehaving, but I just collapsed underneath the towering figures that reprimanded me and couldn't vocalize my defense.
I did write a letter trying my best to explain this to my parents, but the teacher grabbed it, read it aloud ( ostensibly under her breath but knowingly loud enough for the entire class to hear) and said "NO! Try again". So like a torture victim I didn't protest, sobbed and just wrote a false confession about how I was misbehaving and goofing off. Surprisingly my parents believed me, when i broke down again at home which i guess made it better.
I'm nearly thirty and still sometimes think about my hot, teary, embarrassed face seated on the carpet as the teacher loudly mumbled my original letter to my parents in front of a class when I try to fall asleep...life's first injustice stings.
H/T: Reddit
People Describe The Moment They Realized Their 'Friend' Was No Friend At All
Reddit user Aesthetik_1 asked: 'What made you instantly realize This "friend" is not a real friend?'
A good friend is not always the one with whom you share laughs and fun experiences.
The friendships you want to keep include those who won't abandon you in a time of need or someone who supports you in a variety of complicated situations where not even a family member can be relied upon.
Unfortunately, many of us have experienced a time when a person's true colors revealed to us that the so-called "friend" we've always trusted wasn't one at all.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor Aesthetik_1 asked:
"What made you instantly realize This 'friend' is not a real friend?"
These Redditors didn't realized at the time that they were being used.
Recurring Favor
"When he only called me when he needed something. It didn't hit me until much later."
– Queasy-Location-9303
"I have one of those 'friends'. She always gushes about how we're friends but she never initiates contact unless she wants me to do something for her."
– StiffAssedBrit
The Errand Girl
"Several years back, I had a friend who introduced me to this new boy she was seeing. Maybe a year later, their relationship blew up in a fury of bs (whole other story), but by the time they split, I was equally friends with both of them. He and I were both photographers at the time, so the friendship was instantaneous."
"One day we started talking about her, neither positively nor in poor taste, just kind of in general."
"He then asked me 'when she texts to hang out, what does she usually want to do?'"
"I paused. I thought. Holy sh*t, she'd either be asking for a favour or for help with some kind of errand. I was her f'king errand girl."
"She texted me a month or two later, just a 'hey'. I never responded. She never texted again."
"I'm still friends with her ex, though. That dude is genuine as heck."
– ChamomileBrownies
Testing The Friendship
"When you decide to let them be the one to reach out. And you never hear from them again."
– plzdontgetmad
"Yup. Made plans with a friend three times, she cancelled each time. I finally told her to let me know when she was free, we haven’t hung out since."
"She was a good friend for the season, but not a lifetime."
– NoMrBond3
People were shocked to discover the moment they realized they didn't really know who their "friend" was anymore.
The Chaperon
"I had been giving rides to a girl I thought was my friend. To and from school in high school. She wasn’t really suppose to ride with other teens but due to her mothers work hours we could easily pull this off. I thought we were close."
"One day while on the way home my brakes went out. We were about 2 blocks from her gated neighborhood. I managed to roll in safely and parked at her house to call a tow truck."
"She flipped. Told me I couldn’t stay. She knew my brakes were not working as she had also been terrified when we couldn’t stop. She said she wanted to go to a movie that weekend with other friends and her mom would ground her if she saw me at the house. I offered to lie and say I only stopped there as my car malfunctioned on my way home. I had to pass her neighborhood on my way home anyways."
"She refused. Started to scream at me. She didn’t care what happened I had to go. Started to call the guard at the front gate to tell them I had broken in and was threatening her."
"I left her and that friendship that moment. I managed to roll my car slowly to a mechanic not too far away but never forgot the shi* feeling of knowing I could have been seriously hurt and she wouldn’t have cared. She wanted to see a movie. She had the nerve to sheepishly call and ask me a couple days later if I could give her a ride to school. Told her I was too busy and no longer had time… after all I wanted to help her obey her mom's rules. She rode the bus til she graduated."
– Duffarum
Unwilling Companion
"I had this friend in school. Each year there was a funfair in our city, all students received vouchers for a drink and something to eat. This friend complained the whole day that she had no one to accompany her to the funfair. So, stupid me offered to go with her."
"Once we arrived we met another friend of hers. And another, and another... until we were a group of 5 or 6 people. I didn't know anyone and was basically just walking behind them. This friend took me aside and said, 'My friends think you are annoying, and we would like you to leave.'"
"It was a pleasure to see that she failed her exams a year later."
– Auldale
There's the spirit of competition, but when it's taken seriously, we're no longer game for these friendships.
I Can Do It Better
"Constantly 'one ups' me. A real friend is happy for you."
– Complex-Half8338
"That one time I got a fake bag but she doesn’t know and then 2 weeks later messaged me that she also bought a luxury bag… Then when I got a bf, she also went to get a bf within 3 months which is TOTALLY fine but she constantly messages me for us to go on a double date. Anyways, sadly they didn’t last long :( I mentioned that I wanted to go to Cuba, she went ahead and bought herself a ticket to Cuba but I didn’t end up going lol"
– Hot-Coffee-8465
Never Steal The Spotlight
"When they loved the idea of me shining, but behind their shadow, I could never do or achieve anything above them, and when I did, they would get jealous."
– Jasssin23
"Yes! I recently ghosted a friend because of this kind of behavior. She was trying to compete about EVERYTHING. Like she bragged about how her mom’s car accident was more traumatic than my elderly MIL’s - which is not even an appropriate thing to compare. She would also try to 'outshine' celebrations of my milestones and was mean to several of my friends for no apparent reason. She was a loose cannon at best."
– thefifthtrilogy
All About Me
"ALL she talks about it herself and her problems. Granted she has a a lot but never asks about me or my life until she realizes she just bypassed my attempt to want to talk about something in my life bothering me and continued to talk about herself."
– PokemomOnTheGo
People can just be so rude.
"When I got really sick. Very few came to help."
– Tofflus1
"Same here. I got cancer and everyone I knew was over the top supportive for the first six months and then all but three of my friends just vanished. I saw one of them at a Halloween party while I was going through chemo and she told me that my bald head made people uncomfortable. I was dressed as Captain Picard, it was awesome and she ruined it."
– CatGoNoTail
Not Missing High School
"At lunch, she was sitting with her boyfriend, I was sitting with our friend circle. She came up to me, guilted me into sitting with her and her boyfriend, and then proceeded to ignore me for the rest of lunch."
"She didn't care about me, she just didn't want me talking to the friend circle that she had abandoned for her boyfriend. When I pointed this out to her, she called me a jealous b*tch."
"Ah, high school. How I don't miss thee."
– Symnestra
These examples actually served as a good reminder for me to take a moment and assess my friendships.
Not so much about how I've been treated but more about checking myself to see if I'm respecting the people I call my friends.
We've all been guilty of casually mentioning future plans to get together. I embarrassingly wait for people to initiate something, which is terrible.
Show up for your friends. Make them feel important like the individuals they are.
There are few moments in life more momentous than buying your first home.
Of course, as is the case with any big decision, after going through with it, your mind begins to spiral down into a series of doubts.
Most of the time, once you've moved in and lived there for a while, all these doubts begin to slowly disappear.
In some cases, though, those doubts quickly turn into regrets.
Particularly when you notice more and more elements of what you thought was your "dream" home that is more reminiscent of a nightmare.
Redditor californiabred was curious to hear the biggest regrets from people who recently purchased a home, leading them to ask:
"Homeowners who bought recently, what’s your biggest regret?"
Not The What, But The When
"Not buying 4 years ago."- 3rdPartyArbitor
Location, Location, Location!
"The situation when you bought a house where it was possible and a month later they sell a house in the area where you wanted"- BenefitOk3952
"Not knowing enough about the area/town."
"I hate where we live."
"Hoping we can move by the time my oldest starts kindergarten."- MP1087
Upon Closer Inspection...
"The inspector told us the main drain in the basement was clogged."
"We thought it was clogged with something normal."
"It was, in fact, 'clogged' with cement from when our basement floor was redone."
"So now our basement regularly gets standing water on one side."- doctorpotterhead
"Hiring the wrong home inspector they missed so much, I really have to wonder if all those reviews were bought and paid for."- CaptainQuoth
Landscaping Decisions
"Not planting the fruit trees sooner."
"It’s a long wait."- SageLeaf1
How Long Have You Got...
"Be shameless enough to perform your own base level of inspection of a house so you don’t have to rely on what an inspector finds or get in a situation where you have to make an offer regardless of what the inspection finds."
"Turn all the faucets on and run the dishwasher."
"Start the washer machine for a second."
"Figure out if there is any water pressure issue."
"Bring a multi line laser and a tape measure."
"Check for any significant changes in slope on the foundation for some settling issues."
"Pay attention to the downspouts."
"Do they terminate right at the house or do they have longer pipes that lead the water away?"
"Pay attention to the flooring and create a rough estimate of what it will cost to immediately replace the flooring."
"Way easier to do when you don’t have a house full of furniture and can do it right before you move in."
"On the financial side you need to talk with multiple lenders at all times and make sure they continue to give you the most up to date closing costs."
"There were a lot of sneaky numbers that made there way in that I was unaware of as a first time home buyer."
"Until that mortgage lender gives you the locked in rate don’t trust them as to what number they are currently telling you."
"Discover your maximum mortgage rate + escrow and work backwards as to the maximum house you can afford."
"Don’t buy based on the pipe dream of refinancing."- from_the_Luft
Procrastination...
"Not recent, but I still regret not refinishing the floors before I moved in."
"I'll never do it now."- WinterFilmAwards
"I regret not having the inside painted and the carpet replaced before we moved in."
"Been here two years and it never felt like 'my home' until I got rid of the stains of those who came before."- DaisyRage7
Consider A Test Drive...
"Not particularly recent, but we did not pull out cars in the driveway or attempt to park them."
"So we didn't realize that my car could only enter the driveway from one direction, so I had to turn around half a block up every time I needed to park."
"And we just BARELY got two cars in the driveway."
"So my regret is that I took for granted that the driveway met our needs."- gtizzz
Always Read The Fine Print
"I bought a few years ago."
"So many things have gone sideways."
"One thing I regret is not being educated about permits."
"Contractors/handymen/ anyone who works on your house really, never mentions a permit may be needed."
"Learned that it’s up to me and me alone to do the research and phone calls."
"Currently have a job on hold because they needed a permit."
"The company blamed me and now I’m not sure they’re even going to do the work."
"Watch the movie 'The Money Pit'."
"It’s not that far off."
"Some days I wish I’d just be a renter."- MissPeppingtosh
Simply Not Worth The Effort
"Don't bother childproofing your home."
"They still get in."- Blueblackzinc
It's easy to question whether or not buying a home was the right decision.
But rather than live a life full of regret, why not make the most out of what you have, and turn your not-quite-dream home into a temporary dream home?
Who knows, it might even increase the resale value.
In an instant, anything can change in life.
Deciding to turn left instead of right at a traffic light can save your life -- and you may never know it.
That's why the movie "Sliding Doors" is so great.
Small choices and seemingly minor chances can shift things massively.
Redditor Lexie_Mark wanted to hear about how life can change drastically by the smallest influences, so they asked:
"What's a seemingly minor decision you made that ended up having a massive impact on your life?"
I had dinner with a guy once.
I told him a joke and let him read 5 pages of my writing.
Now I write for this website. BOOM!
Right Turn
"Turned up to a military recruiting day on the wrong weekend as a youngster. Walked into a BBQ for traumatized veterans accidentally. That changed my mind."
flecknoe
Moving on...
"I had moved countries and decided to go back home after initial plans didn't work out. Had a ticket booked, was in a hotel near the airport, and got an invite to stay with online friends for a week or so before going back. Deferred my ticket, took them up on the offer."
"Met the love of my life there- moved to his city, have a new job, new friends, new life completely."
Severn6
Hey Teach
"While I was experiencing a period of career ennui, I treated myself to taking some college classes in biology, which I had always been interested in."
"While walking in the neighborhood close to the university one day, I saw one of the professors walking down the street, contentedly eating some ice cream. I don't know what possessed me, but I actually stopped him, said hello, that I was in one of his classes, and how much I liked the course."
"I have come across many professors in such casual circumstances before and since and never had the inclination or the guts to talk to them, particularly when they are clearly just having an enjoyable moment and likely don't want to be annoyed by a random student they don't even know."
"But I talked to him, and we had such a nice chat that he invited me to come to his lab and potentially do some work there. I came by a few days later, and he asked me a few questions and then asked one of his postdocs if he'd like to have me give him some help on a project. The postdoc said yes, and within 2.5 years I had my MS in biology (advised by Dr. Professor and helped greatly by that postdoc), and I was on my way to getting my PhD.
"Now I'm the prof."
zazzlekdazzle
On the Vespa
"4 months ago I was riding my Vespa to the gym on a Saturday morning, and I was T-boned by a car pulling out of a side street. She was looking the other way to make sure the traffic was clear and didn’t see me."
"I was coming from her right (in Australia, left-hand drive) and the front left of her car hit the back of my Vespa. If I had been half a second faster, I wouldn’t have been hit."
"I ended up with a crushed lower left leg and foot, permanent nerve damage, and 2 weeks in hospital. Fast forward to now, and I still can’t walk or move my leg and foot, I’m in unimaginable pain, and I (just today) lost my job."
"The recovery timeline is looking like 18-24 months and there’s no guarantee I’ll walk again."
"I was just trying to be healthy and go to the gym on a Saturday, and now my life has totally turned upside down. lol. Sigh."
ShoeAccomplished119
Swipe Right
"Matched with a guy on Tinder and complained about my current job. Encouraged (and walked me through) the recruitment process for a government job and 5 years later I’ve had 4 promotions, earned almost twice my old salary, and have much higher job satisfaction."
misssofifi
Maybe Tinder isn't so bad after all.
Key Strokes
"Taking a typing class in 1974. Almost no guys took typing at my school. Made life with computers a lot easier."
A20Havoc
"Same here, it was the main reason I got a job in IT, I was able to have a lifelong career."
MyIpodStillWorks
Run
"Started running because I heard it helps with chronic tinnitus, now run 5 days a week, lost 20 kg, stopped drinking, and can sleep. It doesn't cure the tinnitus, there is no cure and probably never will be, but it made it more manageable, lowered the volume in my head, and let me sleep easier. I still have it and struggle with it sometimes, but running/exercise for me is the best way to mitigate the stress chronic tinnitus causes."
rickdangerous85
Brisbane
"Buying tickets to Guns 'N Roses. I'm from Northern Australia and went to the Brisbane show. Ended up going with an old friend who was looking for an extra roommate, moved to Brisbane, did an audio course cause I needed something to do, and ended up working in the music industry full-time. Just got off tour with Suicidal Tendencies as their backline tech and have had an incredible career so far."
Acquiesce95
No Regrets
"My current job was a throwaway application I submitted purely for interview practice. It was one of two listings I saw at once, one was quite detailed and looked really good, and the other one was a handful of vague bullet points that seemed interesting enough. The one I was hoping for never replied, the other one offered me more than the maximum salary on the ad. No regrets."
PM_me_ur_navel_girl
Forever
"I decided to have my first ever one-night stand."
"We've been together for 12 years!"
CrabbiestAsp
"So you still haven't had a one-night stand!"
NickyDeeM
Ah, the curse of the one-night stand gone wrong.
Love is all around.
The Weirdest Things People Have Learned About Themselves From DNA Testing
At the end of the last century DNA laboratory companies began to offer direct-to-consumer home DNA test kits.
According to The Center for Genetics and Society, as of November 2023 more than 26 million people have taken an at-home ancestry DNA test.
These tests have helped people find and reunite with long lost family members. However not all revelations were well met.
Unknown ancestry was discovered.
Infidelity and secrets and lies were also exposed by these tests which led to strife in some families.
Reddit user OmarBessa asked:
"Redditors who have gotten genetic tests, what's the weirdest thing you learnt from your DNA?"
Unexpected Ancestry
"So my dad is from the Philippines and my brothers and I all assumed our whole lives we are half Filipino and half Polish/German from my mom. Even my brothers married Filipino women and are very much into the family culture."
"Anyway I’m the only one who did the dna test and it came back we are only a 1/4 Filipino."
"There’s a mix—1% Japanese, 1% South American, etc...—but the big surprise was our missing 1/4 was Iranian/Romanian."
"My brothers flat out refuse to believe it."
~ Accurate-Neck6933
"Learned that I (White) had a 100% Nigerian ancestor around 130 years ago. Now I want to dig deeper to find out who it was!"
"What’s funny is that I spent a gap year in Nigeria as a teenager, and I love the culture and food and still have a lot of Nigerian friends."
"It’s still a big part of my life."
~ MPD1987
Identity Confirmed
"For 29 years, it was assumed that my dad who raised me was not my biological father, that I was the product of an affair my mother was having."
"I came out with blond hair, freckles and blue eyes. A stark difference to my tanned, dark featured dad."
"My dad chose to raise me as his own anyways, refusing paternity tests. I was never made to feel like I wasn't his."
"I took 23&Me simply out of curiosity and found out that he is in fact my biological father."
"My dad has told me he didn't want to know the results either way, but I let it slip showing my sister's the app one time at dinner."
"He didn't react, but I got an extra big bear hug getting on the train to leave that night."
"It was assumed when my mom found out she was pregnant that the pregnancy was the product of the affair. My features only solidified that assumption."
"He was already raising my mom's first daughter as his own, who he'd met when she was 2 and told my mom he wanted to keep raising the kids together. They got married and he adopted her a few months after I was born."
She was also treated so much as his that I didn't even know she was adopted by him until I was a teenager."
"My parents stayed together for 14 years, and to this day are still best friends."
~ LamePennies
"As an adult, my father-in-law found out his mother was actually his grandmother and his older sister was actually his mom."
"Things were different in the late 30's."
~ CBus660R
"I think this is quite common, especially when the real mother is still very young and in school when they get pregnant."
"The grandparents will adopt the baby and say they’re the mum’s sister/brother, and so the mum can continue their life as normal as possible."
~ _leo1st_
Adoption Answers
"The daughter I adopted and I are actually distantly related!"
~ cherrybounce
"As an adoptee who is considering doing the DNA thing, this intrigues me."
"My brother (also adopted, not a blood related sibling to me) did the DNA thing and found his birth family! I got to meet two of his half siblings. It was fascinating seeing 'nature vs nurture' in real time."
"There were certain mannerisms, etc... that all three of them did, and then other things my brother did that are definitely from the family we were raised in."
"Really cool to watch."
~ MasterChicken52
"Not me but my grandma got a DNA test done because she was sold as a baby—this happened back in the 30s (Depression Era, USA)—and never knew her biological parents, so a family member urged her to do it so we could maybe find them."
"We found both sides—a half-sister from her bio mom and a half-brother from her bio dad."
"Although it was kinda weird to realize we have family close by (only 20 miles away in one case), it was much weirder for the bio families to discover my grandma’s existence, since neither side had anything to do with the other."
"Her bio mom and bio dad seem to have crossed paths at some point in the same city. He was a married man, she was an older teen. Not sure if it was a one night stand or whatever but her bio mom was pregnant as a result of that night."
"At some point in her pregnancy, she checked into a home/hospital for pregnant unwed teen mothers (using a fake name). The bio mom was told the home would find homes for the babies, so she delivered and left."
"Bio mom went on to marry and have her own family, while bio dad likely never knew of the situation."
"As it would turn out, the home was not adopting out babies, rather selling them. Since my grandma was blonde and blue eyed she was bought quickly for a higher price by a woman."
"My grandma didn’t know until her teens that she was sold."
~ very_bored_panda
"My grandparents—they were married at the time—had a biological son they gave up for adoption before my mother was born and never told any of us about."
"Turns out some of the extended family knew my grandma had been pregnant before my mom but kept it a secret."
~ Academic_Smell
"If it was during the great depression in the US it was sadly something that happened. Not even just with babies."
"Some families had to give away their children or some of their children (I can't imagine the trauma for everyone involved) because they couldn't afford to feed themselves, let alone a child."
"My husband's grandmother told me about family members she knew who had to find new families for their children or even send them to live in an orphanage where they would at least be fed.
"Sometimes they were able to get the kids back after finances improved but not always."
~ EthelMaePotterMertz
Infidelity Exposed
"My ancestry is exactly what I grew up being told, I have several family members who were really into genealogy".
"But I found out I have a first cousin we didn't know existed."
"Apparently, my uncle had gotten married and had a son no one knew about when he was 19 and stationed across the country that he bailed on."
~ nelsonalgrencametome
"Ends up my bio dad was quite the dabbler."
"None of his relatives were surprised I existed, just that I was the only stray kid that did (so far). I keep an eye on my results for any other mystery siblings!"
"I told my new half siblings if I ever went to a family reunion I'd show up in a shirt that said 'Spare Parts' or 'I'm your plot twist'."
~ Catlore
Solving Unsolved Mysteries
"I had the same suspicions when I took my test. Turns out it was my grandmother instead with the secret babies she put up for adoption."
"Didn’t find out until 6 years after she passed away so we’re never getting answers as to what happened."
"Also got a surprise contact by the police, as I was a high match to a John Doe that was found drowned on the shores of Lake Superior in 1991."
"That was a fun family tree rabbit hole to dive down. Turned out to be a half 1st cousin from my grandmother’s firstborn."
"The local police were great about informing me and communicating. The case was assigned to them by the provincial police who were clearing out thousands of cold cases."
"I was also very excited to assist because I’d done a rather in-depth family tree about a decade prior."
"They have a team of forensic genealogists, most of them on a volunteer basis, and they were incredibly good at finding information. A lot of it was birth/marriage records and working off random dna matches to try and figure out where the Doe related to the match."
"In my case, I was a 422cm match to the deceased so we looked from my maternal great-grandparents on down."
"I assisted myself on a couple of cases afterwards, all just unidentified bodies found in water or bush, nothing criminal that would require clearance."
"To be honest, I felt a little morbid because of how interested I was in the process. I had to temper my enthusiasm when responding to the police initially."
I didn’t know the person, I had zero attachment to them and it was more of a scientific interest."
"It wasn’t until weeks later when I realized how close of a relation it was that it hit me. That plus he was likely murdered made me feel bad about my earlier enthusiasm."
"But in the cases I volunteered on, those people were loved and missed."
"One fella was a cousin of a beloved NHL enforcer that passed away a year before and I recognized the names of the immediate family we had to contact. They still had Facebook groups dedicated to searching for him with posts until the day before we contacted them."
"I’m sure there’s a relief at having answers but grief at the loss being confirmed."
~ Jrewy
More and more people are exploring their roots through DNA testing.
Have you taken a test? What was your DNA revelation?