Curious to hear from strangers online about their teenage years, an anonymous Redditor asked:
"What was 'the incident' at your high school?"
Major school incidences ranged from the bizarre to tragedy.
Prank Gone Wrong
"Senior prank, someone dumped a few hundred pounds of flour and yeast into the school indoor pool, in hopes of turning it into a giant glob of dough (I guess). It didn’t work, just caused about 100K damage to plumbing, pumps, filters, etc. Prankster never caught."
– Sea_Ganache620
Cruel Morning
"In high school Two kids both named Logan. Both last names were very similar. One was popular and the other was not. Unpopular Logan was drunk and ran across a road in the middle of the night and was killed by a semi-truck."
"The next day the principal announced that popular Logan had died. Popular Logan was late for school."
"Everyone was very sad. Then popular Logan showed up and all school rejoiced that unpopular Logan was the one who died. Was f'ked up."
– AggressiveSmoke4054
Sudden Death
"A sophomore (my classmate) dropped unconscious in gym class and was rushed to the hospital. 3 days later they took him off life support and he died from a brain aneurysm."
"Edit to add: his funeral was held in the high school gym and damn near everyone went. Never in my life did I think I’d attend a funeral AT school."
– DisappointmentToMost
In The Nick Of Time
"A friend of mine in high school had a brain aneurysm, also as a sophomore. He'd been complaining for a few days about sudden, brief, very intense headaches. He was on the JV football team and went to play a game. Took a hard tackle and the aneurysm ruptured."
"That actually turned out to be the luckiest possible time for it to happen, because the school always had an ambulance on call at the side of the field during football games, so he was in the hands of EMTs within a minute of people realizing something was wrong. He was rushed to the hospital, they removed part of his skull to reduce the pressure on his brain and he spent a week or two in an induced coma. But in an absolute damn miracle, he made about as complete of a recovery as one can from that kind of injury; the only long-term effect was some very minor loss of muscle control in the left side of his face, so his smile was a little crooked."
"That was back in 2000."
"He just died three weeks ago from an accidental drug overdose."
– Lachwen
Lockdown
"A kid came to school with a machete and tree saw and slashed 7 students the day before Thanksgiving break."
"And a girl fell through the gym’s acoustic ceiling tiles and had to wear a halo."
– usfgirl1020
Incidences were not limited to just the students.
Murder
"A science teacher was beaten, chased and fatally set on fire by her husband who then shot himself."
– Fracture_98
Domestic Violence
"A teacher at the school I attended was being chased by her abusive husband. She drove to a police station with him following and tried to go inside but the doors were locked (it was some holiday). He shot her dead there and drove off. After that they made a rule to always have someone on staff and the doors unlocked."
– TheW83
There's no avoiding the brutal shaming that accompanies the high school experience.
Special Gym Class
"We had so many pregnant teen girls that they had their own gym class."
"A friend of mine who had a fake leg— he had a solid metal rod from mid thigh to mid calf from childhood leukemia so he couldn’t bend at the knee, was in the same class. Just this one poor guy and 30 pregnant 16 year olds."
"I was a teenager in the late 90s and grew up in the southeastern United States. It was a suburban area where a ton of people (still) identify as Evangelical Christians, it’s also called the Bible Belt. The required sex education classes didn’t teach anything but 'Just Say No' so there were girls who thought jumping up and down would prevent pregnancy. Not kidding. These were really sheltered girls who would attend Purity Dances, so it was quite a scandal that so many were pregnant at the same time. Most of the baby daddies were just dumb teenage boys who didn’t know the facts of life."
"Remember that there was no internet at this point so it’s not like teens could get information on their own especially if they were from a super religious background. A girl on my street was 'sent away' to live with an aunt when she got pregnant."
"Also, the pregnant girl gym class was technically for the physically disabled kids, hence why my friend was the lone guy in the class."
"His leg, from what he explained to me, had cancer in the bones of his knee. They didn’t want to amputate his whole leg so they removed the knee and grafted a rod in place— this would have been back in the late 80s so I’m sure they do stuff differently now."
– Malicious_Tacos
Students Can Be So Mean
"a girl had an epilepsy attack and she lost control of her bowels. Not a pretty sight."
"Mean girls type made fun of her, and she transferred to another high school."
– StuntCockofGilead
Teenagers deserve more credit than they're given.
These days, they are forced to grow up fast and learn important life lessons earlier than their parents like for them to experience due to various circumstances unfolding on campus.
If they can survive high school, they can survive almost anything in life past graduation.
Redditor Nicole9391 wanted to hear about all of the things that send people running when they say hello for the first time, so they asked:
"What is an INSTANT turn off?"
I am always immediately turned off by people who don't listen.
Shut Up!
Fuck You Season 4 GIF by FriendsGiphy"When someone talks bad about their friends."
MarcelineVampQn
"Don’t talk about anyone behind their backs. If you are curious about something that’s okay but don’t say bad things about anyone even if you don’t like them."
wondafresh
'yeahyeahyeah'
"When someone asks you a question and you respond, they interrupt with 'yeahyeahyeah' and continue with their thought without taking anything you've just said into consideration."
"Why do people have a problem with just shutting the hell up and just listening for a second? Is your attention span that short?"
SuumCuique1011
"This is me, but because I have extremely short memory retention and cannot hold a thought for more than 10 seconds. I’m a great listener, but when I want to say something, I NEED to say it and quickly otherwise I’ll lose it and feel annoyed at myself for a few hours till I remember a week later."
DepressedPotato--
Economics
"Thinking people are below them. Not because of character or anything but individuals who just base their judgment on someone's socio economic situation etc. It's a big freaking turn off."
"Don't judge someone based on how much money they have, where they live etc. Judge them based on character."
"So yeah, definitely a**holes are a turn off lol."
TheTorontoExplorer
Be the Change
"Unwillingness to learn or change. Intellectually or emotionally, people who cannot admit that they are wrong or don't know something. And by extension, making sh*t up because they can't say 'I don't know.'"
DifferentShallot8658
"I can’t stand know-it-alls! Especially when you are more knowledgeable/qualified on a topic and nicely explain to them the facts and they brush you off!!! Haughty little sh*ts."
Affectionate-Car-317
Clean Up Corona GIF by Music ChoiceIf you can't have clean undies, just have none.
The Sign
Signs Zodiac GIF by HysteriaGiphy"A 'it’s because of my zodiac' woman."
"Yeah I remember once my friend was trying to guess my Zodiac (I’m an Aries) she swore I was a Leo I said no. Capricorn? No. Oh oh! Sagittarius! I was like yeah! She said I KNEW IT! (With a brief explanation) then I was like nah I'm An Aries.🤣🤣🤣"
JustXTE
Be Open
"Closed-minded people. Which there are a lot of. If you can’t have a nuanced discussion with someone then how can you connect with people? Being able to humor ideas and thoughts intellectually without being overly judge mental is a big turn on. And that doesn’t have to be someone who’s open minded about politics. I appreciate people who let conversations flow despite not sharing all the same opinions."
D_Ubird
Bad Mouth
"Really bad or unclean teeth for me. Once met a really cute girl at a dark bar/club and we went for food after. In the well lit restaurant she looked even better until she smiled and in the light I could see that her teeth were a sickly gray color with a weird film of gunk all over and stuff in the cracks of her teeth as well."
"Literally reminded me of the orcs from LOTR. Pretty sure it was either from bad dental hygiene or drug use, or both but I instantly felt nauseous. A few crooked teeth is normal but when your mouth looks like an anglerfish I'm out."
thestrandedmoose
Don't Breathe
"Poor hygiene in situations where you really shouldn't be displaying it. Sure, we all fart into our sweatpants and occasionally forget to brush the grease out of our hair at home, but going out and public and being gross is, well, gross."
agent-a**butt
Hell No!
No No No GIFGiphy"Smoking cigarettes Or just being rude for no reason. I don’t mind saying something slightly rude to be a joke and maybe it just isn’t funny. But if they are just rude for rudeness sake. Automatic no."
Zordon56
Just Flow
"Not having their own opinion always going with the flow Like I understand sometimes but always going with flow might just make you a boring person."
nahhomi
"I'm a go with the flow kind of person because I like very few things, dislike only a handful of things, and everything else I'm just indifferent towards. It's hard to have an actual opinion comparing two things you couldn't be bothered to care about one way or another."
"When I do have a preference, sure I'll put my two cents in, but I don't see the point when I don't care."
ShortManRob
What have we learned?
First impressions are everything!
Anything you'd like to add to the list? Let us know in the comment below.
Redditor AndyBales wanted to hear the small town tales that left everybody shook, so they asked:
"Redditors who grew up in small towns, what was 'the incident?'"
My towns are dull. But I have a feeling dull is good.
Scraped
Yard Work Dog GIFGiphy"It was hushed up, but the former sheriff of my hometown stole people's lawnmowers and sold them for scrap for close to a decade. Weird place."
Power_Wiz_IV
In the Woods
"A light shining into the sky a couple times from out in the woods. Police went out to check it, found a man no one knew in a cabin no one knew of, LOADED with guns and ammunition. When asked why he had so many, what he was doing shining a light into the sky."
"He was sending a beacon to the aliens because they told him to shine a light to guide them, when he had things ready for them…. Yeah."
IDontEvenCareBear
BAAAHHHHH!!!!
"'The incident' involved sheep..."
"A flock of sheep kept on the town green migrated through a broken fence into the adjacent cemetery. The sheep became known as the 'Lamb-scapers' because they did a better job of manicuring the cemetery grounds than the maintenance person."
Back2Bach
The Scandal
"Guy in my high school knocked up the daughter of the local fitness center owner. The owner offered him a car to leave his daughter alone and not be a part of the baby’s life. He accepted the offer and took the car. Once she gave birth, they ran away together in the car."
"The fitness center owner found them, torched the car, and threatened to kill the guy. They fought and the baby daddy won. This apparently garnered some respect from both men and now everyone seems like a happy family."
LessGoooo
The Stash
pulp fiction art GIF by hoppipGiphy"A wealthy couple were brutally murdered in their home by an adult daughter and her boyfriend. It was rumored they had a ton of money stashed in the house."
bemest
Money is always the root of evil.
Down the street...
Will Smith Smh GIF by The Academy AwardsGiphy"A guy robbed the bank then ran to his home to hide… that was down the street. Took the cops an embarrassingly long time to get him."
Wenissucker
Bianca Piper...
"Small town in Missouri. Bianca Piper, it was 2005, supposedly she went for a walk after a fight with her mom and was never seen again. I was a junior in high school and skipped school that day. My friends and I freaked when we saw cop cars and helicopters out EVERYWHERE. Thought they were looking for us. Everyone here has always said her mother had something to do with it."
thallemeyer
The Giggler
"The 40something drunk man who broke into the high school dressed as batman to prank scare the high school classes by staring in the windows then running away giggling uncontrollably to appear somewhere else on campus and scare a different class. There was an hour and a half long lockdown and he ended up found and arrested."
quietcopse
At the Bottom
"A little girl had a seizure (or hit her head. Nobody knows for sure) in the YMCA swimming pool, went unconscious, and drowned during a youth swim team practice. My sister and her friends were also on the team. They saw her at the bottom of the pool and thought she was just messing around. Lifeguards and instructors weren’t even paying attention."
broshley
WTH?!
Okaay What GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"Some cheerleaders pooped on a pizza at cheer camp and blamed the rival high school's cheerleaders. George Bush (president at the time) even spoke about it."
Alicesblackrabbit
Lord, the scandals of a small town.