Being a teacher really can't be easy.
You're always dealing with a bunch more than a single human being really should be dealing with. And you're technically responsible for like, the future of America, so you know, no pressure.
Sometimes it's just the worst day ever and it's a miracle you make it out intact. But you know, it all would have been okay without that annoying as HECK thing you had to deal with today...
u/Chrisrocks202 asked:
Teachers of reddit, what was the most annoying thing you ever had to deal with in class?
Here were some of those answers.
So. Much. Paperwork.
Just how much of a danger small children are to themselves and others. We've got to catalogue every playground injury, which while understandable in theory is actually incredibly time consuming.
And the kids have been taught to find a grownup for everything so one minute you'll be applying ice to someone who ran into a post, and then filing in the same forms for the kid who wanted a band aid because they have a hangnail.
Poor Girl Was Probably Scared
Early elementary art teacher here:
I was in the middle of teaching a kindergarten class and noticed one of the kids was passing gas...A LOT. Luckily it was warm enough outside so I cracked a couple windows without missing a step in my lesson or bringing more attention to the smell. A few minutes later, I realize that the smell is growing at an exponential rate and I had that terrible thought: someone sh*t their pants and now they're either too embarrassed to come tell me in front of their peers or scared they will get in trouble (remember, they're 5 year olds).
SO, I decide my plan of attack will be to continue teaching my lesson as planned but actively walk around my classroom with and extra heightened sense of smell so I can literally "sniff out" the kid that did this while still acting normal around all the students. Sure enough, I get to one of the tables and this one kid just smells terrible and it's obvious she did this. I get the kids started on their art projects and ask this girl into the hall to have a chat. I ask her if she pooped her pants and she says no. I ask her if she's sure she didn't and she says yeah she's sure. We go back inside the class and the smell gets even worse. A couple minutes later I ask the same girl back out in the hall and I tell her I know she pooped her pants and that she needs to go to the school nurse to get a change of clothes. After it takes some convincing, I get her outta there and get things cleaned up on the sly so that way a lot of the other kids wouldn't find out what happened and therefore wouldn't tease the girl later.
That was a rough day.
It's Almost Never The Kids' Faults
PARENTS.
Not always in class, necessarily, but my district has a "Bring Your Parent to School Day" which is NOT supposed to be an opportunity for parents to critique teachers, but definitely ends up that way for some of us.
This year, at the end of class, a parent came up to me and told me that my class was pretty disorderly (even though it was the best they'd behaved all year - mind you, this was a class of mainly freshman boys), and that she didn't like how many times her own son got up to sharpen his pencil.
Oh. Okay. Thanks?
The same parent told my colleague that he should have students who wanted to learn sit on one side of the room and have students who didn't want to learn sit on the other. And then, of course, ONLY teach the kids who wanted to learn.
The irony in that suggestion was that her son would be on the "doesn't want to learn" side, but, as public educators, we're not allowed to say anything. Just smile and nod, smile and nod...
It's Just Disrespectful And Distracting
University level, so I am not sure if this counts, but he would come to class and watch television shows on his laptop.
I don't have an attendance requirement. I asked him to please just watch them outside instead of coming to class. He said he was very sorry and would not do it again. After that, he was still pretty clearly watching shows in class on his laptop, with the sound down, but would click away any time I came near.
I don't understand.
Putting Someone Off From Learning
Hmmm.... I teach English in a Chinese kindergarten (nursery). Annoying maybe a tad strong, but it it is unfortunately inconvenient and counterproductive when the local teacher is over-eager.
Some are taking an active part in the class, which is great, but oftentimes they step-in to correct the kids and do so incorrectly (pronunciation particularly). Also due to the different teaching approach, and I guess impatience, they tend to push the kid and stress them out to give an answer without giving enough time to think and come up with something.
To elaborate on the second point. I'd rather the kid gave me any answer by themselves, however incorrect, so that we can correct it together than the teacher pushing or giving the answer and destroying the kid's confidence in the process.
Wasting Time For No Reason
Inability to fill in the attendance register. 30 in class, only 27 names on register. 'who hasn't filled in their name?' "we all have" 'no you haven't, who hasn't filled it in?'. Silence. Start asking individually until register is finally filled in. Amazing how people will argue that they have filled in their name when they haven't.
Rude Boy--Not The Rihanna Song
I'm a computer science teacher. This is important as my students usually have access to a computer. One student likes to be hated by the other students, so he found an online tone generator and set it to a frequency that older people wouldn't be able to hear, but it would massively annoy his classmates. Thankfully, I'm not particularly old and have fairly tuned in hearing from a background in audio engineering so I could just mute his computer. The most annoying part is that if he put as much effort into his work as he did into creative ways to piss people off, he could do really well.
Some People Need To Retire
Former primary and secondary school teacher here based in the UK. My vote goes towards incompetent or robotic senior management.
Also, their policies:
- Making you do reports during holidays. Except it's worse because they open the system a week or so before said holiday, meaning technically they're not MAKING you do them in the holidays.
- Not employing cover supervisors so you end up using your free period to cover the lessons of your absent colleagues, thereby building resentment towards them.
- Not being allowed to sit down AT ALL during lessons.
- Spontaneously sticking their head in the classroom to 'see if you need any support' (see if you're sitting down').
- Abuse of the term 'support'.
I'm sure many more will be added to this list.
Edit: as this is taking off, I thought I'd add a couple more thanks to inspiring replies:
- Business-people running schools.
- Over-use of business language such as 'rigour', 'performance', 'review', 'oversight', 'synergy', 'added-value' and all the other wank-words many of us LEFT businesses to get away from.
- Surveillance cameras in the classroom for 'everyone's protection'.
Just Dealing With Kids' Energies
I've been teaching in a North London secondary school for almost ten years now. I love the job but the annoying things have to be:
a) When you finally get students settled and working quietly and suddenly a spider/bee/fly appears or it starts to snow. It's game over at that point if you've less than 20mins of the lesson left.
b) Younger first year students (11yrs) who walk into the classroom and want to talk to you and shout "sir sir sir" over and over again... like... Just go and sit down and be quiet... Its not so bad if it's one or two but when you have 10 of them trying to get your attention at the same time it gets a bit ridiculous.
c) Bottle flipping. Do it and your bottle dies.
d) Students who laugh or attempt to make fun of others if they get a question wrong. Classrooms are all about making mistakes so it irritates the hell out of me.
e) Lying, if I call you out on something you shouldn't be doing just say "sorry" and stop doing it, you're highly unlikely to get in further trouble from me then. Saying "I didn't do that" is kind of insulting when I just watched you shove a handful of crisps/chips down your gullet, it's also a guarantee I'll take it further.
NY Needs Some Serious Reform
There's a requirement in NY of how much seat time you have to have to pass certain classes. Like you need X number of labs to take the science regents or whatever.
Some dumbass parents and students use all their "sick days" (let's say they get 14 before truant/failing) when they don't feel like coming to school. By February they're usually cutting it close and come every day.
The annoying part? They come sick all the damn time!! I've had kids go to the he ER with the flu at night, show up to school with a mask and 103 fever the next morning. Or they have some vomiting bug and jump up take the trash can and bolt in the middle of my class. Or they "can't see" with pink eye in both eyes... or they blow their nose/sniffle every 30 seconds. The worst part is the disruption then infecting everyone else.
If you try to send them out they freak out and parents call saying the school is out to get their kid and threatens to pull them out so they count as a drop out. Schools get flagged by the state for drop out rates.
Other than that it's just when kids decide to act all tough and try to tell you off. About once every 4-5 years I get one who decides they're going to try to be cool and put me in my place.
I tend to avoid public bathrooms if I can help it. They are terrible places. Few are clean and I admit I am a bit of a clean freak. My beautiful bottom will not grace a dirty toilet seat, no thank you. I have standards.
I'm being only sort of serious. I've been in a pinch before. But have you ever seen a gas station bathroom that was utterly destroyed by the patron (or patrons) before you? It's a horrible sight. 0/10: Do not recommend.
Naturally, some crazy things happen in your local public restroom. We heard some stories after Redditor RuffNBoy asked the online community,
"What is the wackiest thing you've seen in a public restroom?"
"At the theater I work at..."
"At the theater I work at I was cleaning the mens restroom and in one of the stalls was an open condom wrapper, a tiny empty bottle of the nacho cheddar seasoning we sell, and the seasoning scattered near the corner on the floor. Bethesda wishes they had environmental storytelling like that."
theshazzmaster
Do I really want to know what went on there? I honestly don't think so.
"I used to be..."
"I used to be a hotel maid. Cleaning one room I found two things in the bathroom garbage can: a used condom and a whole pickle."
[deleted]
"I was taking a dump..."
"I was taking a dump at a movie theater and a little kid climbed under the stall and grabbed my foot. I screamed and kicked that kid so hard right in the face just out of sheer instinct. He cried. His dad said, "That's what you get Gavin."
AUSpartan37
Gavin is at it again and this time he faced some consequences.
"I walked in..."
"I walked in and my eyes were immediately assaulted by a fully naked man running a stick of deodorant up and down his crack."
JscottPilgrim
Wow... what a terrible day to be able to read.
"Not only did this bathroom..."
"Gas station bathroom in the middle of nowhere. Not only did this bathroom have a bathtub (?) but there was a fully dressed and made up mannequin in the tub. Very jarring."
AlpinePinecorn
This sounds surreal... and honestly rather creepy.
"I once stopped..."
"I once stopped at a gas station on a road trip and the bathroom was full of dolls…. Staring with their little painted eyes…."
Rabbit_Mom
Noooope.
Their creepy and unsettling eyes!
"Two women..."
"Two people were having sex in the handicapped stall. I was seven."
madamwhatnot
So something tells me you learned about the birds and the bees rather early.
"A clogged urinal..."
"A clogged urinal filled to the brim, with an anaconda sized turd spiral floating in it, in hypnotic circles. How a turd that size could be buoyant I have no idea."
effy4eva
This is quite the sentence. I don't think I needed it in my eyeballs, but it's too late now.
"I was in a Berlin dive bar..."
"Olives. I was in a Berlin dive bar with some friends. In the bathroom, there was a vending machine, stocked with tinned tapas. So I came back from the bathroom with a can of olives. When asked where I got them I just replied "bathroom.""
cristicusrex
This is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. I can only imagine the looks on your friends' faces...
Okay, so now you understand why I can't abide public restrooms. If you're smart, you'll run for the hills the next time you're in the proximity of one. Things can only go downhill from there. (Am I being serious? Maybe... maybe not.)
Have some stories of your own to share? Tell us more in the comments below!
One should never be fooled by a first impression.
Certain people might behave in a way that is less than indicative of what they are actually like, and might prove to be far more impressive, or much less friendly, once you get to know them a little better.
However, sometimes people will behave in a certain way which leaves one unable to avoid making assumptions about people.
Namely, their intelligence.
Redditor sparklingshanaya was curious to hear what behavioral traits the Reddit community took as a sign of possessing a considerable lack of intelligence, leading them to ask:
"What are some behaviors that scream unintelligence?"
An unwillingness to learn
"I feel like the classic example is being unable to change your opinion or idea when you are presented with new information."
"You don’t have to set everything you believe in stone."- Rusty_of_Shackleford
"I think a key thing that separates the intelligent from the less intelligent is curiosity and how far you actually go to learn."- TuxedoWolf07
When even they don't know what they're talking about.
"Maybe not unintelligence but ignorance."
"People getting angry when I ask them to explain what they just meant as I want to understand them and not misunderstand."- smokinstuff·
"Getting angry when someone ask them to explain their point."- SuvenPan
It's never attractive to gloat
"Obsessively telling everybody how intelligent you are."- terribleUsername18
It's ok to admit defeat every now and then...
"Playing 'last word' in an argument you've lost."- LennonMcCartney65
"Being defensive when corrected instead of just accepting it."- Marthstewart123
"Claiming they are always right but not being able to argument why or have a serious debate about it."- GReatChinook
Are you sure about that?
"Constantly saying 'facts' that are extremely false."
"Gets on my nerves."- Sharkifish
Read the instructions!!!
"I just started driving for UberXL."
"The amount of people who think they can fit 8 people with all their luggage into a midsize SUV is astonishing."
"You can see which car comes to pick you up and it says fits 5 people."
"If you have a piece of luggage each then it's more like 3 people."
"I had one group sit there and stare me down like they didn't understand."
"I swear some people just have a mental limit for figuring things out and they all find each other and never get anywhere."- predict_irrational
One should always reserve judgment, as one never knows for sure what lurks beneath the surface.
Even if more often and not, you are left with little to nothing which encourages you to see what's there.
One of my favorite horror films ever is Black Christmas (1974). It's the perfect slasher film. It's scary. It's uncompromising. It's sordid. It's eerie. It leaves you with a horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach. It features some great acting, too! There are some powerhouse talents in it, including Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, and Andrea Martin.
But did you know that the film has been remade? It's been remade twice, as a matter of fact. The first remake, which was released in 2006, was so ridiculous. Not even Martin, who showed up in a glorified cameo in the role of a sorority house mother, could save it.
It was remade again in 2019 — this one bore few similarities to the films that came before it. One wondered why this one even had the same name, but there you have it.
Suffice it to say that the original Black Christmas is untouchable. But it is not the only film out there that should never have been remade. Far from it.
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor CrescendoX asked the online community,
"What movie is so perfect that if it would remade, it would be a crime against humanity?"
Misery (1990)
"Misery. I could totally see a remake of Misery that used the way social media creates parasocial relationships so prevalently."
DocBenzanone
But let's not. I mean, who could ever replace Kathy Bates? She won an Oscar for the role!
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
I've seen the animation they've done for some of these new "live action meets cartoons" things.. The work the art/animation team put into Who Framed Roger Rabbit is STILL to this day putting them to shame."
TONKHANAH
A good choice. It was a pretty groundbreaking film and it's still influencing filmmakers to this day. That cast!
Aliens (1986)
"It would be impossible to remake that perfect movie. The cast, story, and practical effects are wonderful. A remake would be full of CGI and a BS script."
[deleted]
Don't you dare suggest this! Don't you dare give those horrible Hollywood execs any ideas!
Spaceballs (1987)
"Spaceballs. I don't want any other version."
OllieAreOllio
But think about the merchandising!
Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money
Jaws (1975)
"Jaws. I read somewhere that Spielberg won't let it be remade."
ferox965
If someone did someday remake it, I would highly suggest they remove a lot of the unnecessary subplots that are in the book!
Did we really need that affair?
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
"The Silence of the Lambs. Remakes should only be attempted when you are sure that it can outclass the original but Silence of the Lambs cannot be outclassed."
[deleted]
Two Oscar-winning performances. It doesn't get any better than Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. The film is a masterclass — the Criterion edition is especially beautiful.
Stand by Me (1986)
"Stand by Me. It would be an insult to River Phoenix and many others to remake that."
Gluonyourbosom
This film is so highly regarded that a remake just seems foolish. Why even bother attempting one? Go and read the novella instead.
Back to the Future (1985)
"Back to the Future. Please please please PLEASE don't ruin it with a remake."
Frodo_noooo
As long as Robert Zemeckis doesn't kick the bucket we're safe!
Uncle Buck (1989)
"Uncle Buck. Don't you dare touch it."
Wokonthewildside
Without John Candy that would be like trying to remake the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in a Denny's with only ketchup and mustard. Just a tragic, ill-conceived imitation.
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
"My Cousin Vinny. Joe Pesci's performance is perfect."
[deleted]
Hey, don't forget Marisa Tomei! She stole the show. And she won an Oscar for the role!
The list of movies that should not be touched is endless and you no doubt have your opinions.
Which movies should be left the hell alone? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
Sex talk is still considered a taboo subject in many households. And I don't mean going into detail about your bedroom conquests at the dinner table.
Overprotective parents tend to be evasive about discussing the birds and the bees with their kids because they feel it's not up to them to have that conversation.
Remember Carrie White's religious mom who refused to talk about intimacy with her 16-year-old?
We all know how that turned out in the classic Stephen King novel.
Anyway, parents turning down an opportunity to have the uncomfortable convo or having their kids miss out on sex education can lead a child to potentially develop damaging misunderstandings about their body and puberty.
The effects of which were explored when Redditor sparklingshanaya asked:
"What’s a sexual misconception you had for way too long?"

It helps to have an earlier understanding about your body when you're younger.
Sex Education
"As a girl, I had no real idea of where/what the vagina was until I was like 11 or 12. My mom didn't give me a real sex talk, just a puberty/body book that said 'the vagina is between the woman's legs' and just had a full frontal diagram (legs closed) of a woman with an arrow pointing to her pelvic region. I also didn't know a period lasted longer than a day until I got mine at 14, and then wondered why it was still going on the next day."
"When my mom realized how abysmal my sex education was, her solution was to rent a video from the library about it and make me watch it on the big family TV in the living room at like 3pm. Granted— it was a very educational video but I won't ever forget one of the educators (a 50 year old woman) talking about how to give a satisfactory blow job."
– ash-on-fire
Hard Epiphany
"Ok so I grew up in a VERY conservative household. Was not allowed to take sex ed in middle school and they helicoptered in high school. Any internet access they had access to view so I never watched porn/looked at pics. Absolutely nothing. So for a long time I thought penises were shaped like a smaller pringles can. I thought it was just like...a straight up cylinder. Moved out at 17 and googled some things and man I had men's anatomy SO wrong."
– WholeLottaIntrovert
Wrong End Of The Stick
"Friend of mine has a similar background and I just about lost my mind when she said the balls are the END of the penis. Like she had seen those doodles and had it upside down so they just dangle off the end of the shaft lmaooo."
– xchakrumx
Let's get verbal about getting oral.
Satisfy A Woman
"Learn to go down on a woman, like become a master at it. Do this."
– ecallawsamoht
Excuse For Supper
"I second this. Been married for 20 years and it's something I'm happy to do."
"Get involved, people."
"Edit: thanks for the medals and upvotes, people! Be assured that I'll be celebrating tonight."
– AhabVanCleef
Semantics
"Friend of a friend thought it meant kissing. And they were like 19. So glad they found out through a conversation and not through a dude asking for it, or her talking about it. That would've been extremely confusing for everyone."
– SilverWaters793
Pucker Up
"My friend back in middle school thought a blowjob meant to literally blow on it. I still tease her about it to this day."
– Ashurii_desu
Failed Expectations
"Man, I thought I was gonna get so many blow jobs. That’s just not true."
– Studying_Politics
As young adolescents, these Redditors got these terminologies mixed up.
Dirty Talk
"When I was around middle school age I thought that oral sex meant talking dirty :’)"
– strawbrykat
"I used to sext with my girlfriend in high school. When we broke up, she just went crazy and told everyone in our grade that I was great at 'oral sex' (she meant sexting💀) School hasn’t been the same since then."
– Particular-Ad4356
Learning By Example
"I was kind of sheltered growing up, and like most sheltered kids, I learned a lot about sex through porn. I kept seeing 'blowjob' videos, and (i had no idea what a blowjob) assumed it was some kind of sex blooper. Like, something got messed up and the director said 'Oh darn, you blew it! Let’s take it from the top.'”
– Danny_my_boy
I had sex education in sixth grade after my parents gave the school permission for me to attend the special assembly centering on the topic.
But I remember how vague the instructor was. By the time I eventually had my first nocturnal emission, I remember being terrified, yet simultaneously elated. It was very confusing, and I didn't know what happened.
I remember reflecting back to sixth grade and thinking the school must've skipped that part in sex ed.