It's been said that it's the "quiet ones" you really need to watch out for - but have you ever wondered why?
The media tells us that the quiet ones are the ones most likely to go full-on atomic when they are finally pushed too far. We see it in movies, we hear about it in songs like Jeremy, I Don't Like Mondays and Pumped Up Kicks.
Obviously quiet people are pushed too far on a daily basis, but we don't hear about these atomic meltdowns ... so there can't be that much truth to the myth ... right?
Reddit user Crudop_uwu asked:
What happened when the kind/quiet person snapped?
Turns out, reality might be just as strange - and intense - as fiction. Check out these real-life stories about what happens when the quiet ones get pushed too far and finally snap.
Chorus Lessons
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My choir teacher was a really kind jolly person that younger kids loved to piss off for no reason. Like, he was incredibly patient, supported you even if your voice was god awful and really worked to make people comfortable and achieve a certain goal each individual had.
And every year the new students of middle school would joke around antagonize the poor man all class long.
What these foolish 7th graders didn't know was that when this man was not nice... he really was not nice. It took a long time to blow his fuse, but once it blew, there was no going back.
This quiet middle aged man, almost always pale, suddenly became raging loud with his face exploding red. You could see veins popping out on his forehead as he scream/scolded the younger students to behave. And he didn't stop, he got up in everyone's faces, yanked their phones from them and scared the absolute shite out of them.
I hadn't done anything, and neither did the seniors of choir because we knew the consequences of being an ahole to this teacher. So he skipped over us and we got a full view of the younger kids crying, more out of stock than anything.
And just as fast as it came, the teacher had calm down. His face going back to it's original color and the phones he grabbed safely locked away in his office. He was quiet once again and with a smile on his face, he'd say. "Now, let's try this chorus again..."
Crying To Mommy
One of my best friends is the quiet kid at our school. One day a couple other girls were talking and one of them said "What's she gonna do? Cry to her mommy?"
And another said "Sorry honey the baby needs my attention right now." Her mother and brother were killed in a car accident last year.
My friend overheard the girls and went over and punched one in the face and proclaimed "At least my mother loved me b***h!"
She then took the second girls tray and dumped it all over her. One of the teachers saw everything and heard what the girls said.
My friend got off with just a detention.
An Icy Lesson
My cousin, who I call my brother, he's my BFF, my total bromance guy, has always been an extremely calm and chilled out guy. Completely easy going guy.
When we were little kids I was a completely insane, hyperactive, impulsive kid. We were sitting together eating ice cream out of cones and, for unknown reasons, I reached over and pushed his ice cream off the cone and then laughed like a maniac. He looked at me and then he just launched himself at me, he flew out of his chair, knocked me off mine, my ice cream flew away and we started rolling around on the floor punching each other.
That's the only time we've ever had a fight. And it was while my uncle had a whole lot of important people and their families over at the house. He was thrilled.
Words Hurt
In middle school in my 7th grade math class this one girl was picking on me (the quiet kid) because I lived in a apartment complex and not a house. Normally I just ignored her or anyone who messed with me. I was bullied a lot and to the point anything I said was used against me so usually I was mute 98% of the time.
Except I guess I was having a really bad day because I spoke up and 1) told her to shut up and 2) I didn't need to take this from someone who couldn't compete with a pancake for bust size (or something worded similar).
I knew she was self conscious about it because I'd walked out of the bathroom stall to see her jamming toilet paper down her bra. She stopped picking on me after that.
The Silent Giant
I was working in a kitchen when the silent giant on the grill next to me started getting a wave of steaks and burgers.
The expediter was asking him to rush some things and he froze in overwhelmed anger for a moment, grabbed a mostly raw burger off the hot grill with his bare hand and threw it at the stainless steel wall. It stuck for a moment and flopped onto the floor.
He then took a deep breath and started selling food faster than I've ever seen.
- trellala
Seeing Red
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I lifted a girl off the ground by her hair and told her never to mess with me again.
I was 5'8" and 13 years old. The girl had been bullying me for years at that point. I was the quiet kid who just read a lot, liked gaming, and had severe social anxiety. She purposefully bumped into me on the way out of a classroom. By that point, she had pushed me out of my friend group and replaced me, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I snapped, and literally saw red. Like, literally. It was like a red film fell over my vision and I had no control over my actions. She was a few inches shorter than me, but had curly, poofy hair. So, I picked her up by it and told her, "Don't come near me ever again!" And then dropped her like the piece of trash she was.
I proceeded to walk to my next class and have a total breakdown, crying. I didn't get in trouble because the teachers much preferred me over her and knew I would never do something like that unless pushed to the breaking point. Plus, when you're bawling about how you didn't mean to do that and you were just so desperate to make her go away, you get a lot of sympathy.
I don't regret it, and she never messed with me again.
"Dishonorable" Discharge
Kicked the shite out of half our barracks. Was then tased by MPs and arrested.
This guy was constantly bullied and picked on by the mouthy guy in our platoon. One day he finally snapped and was belting the life out of this guy. Like 7 or 8 of us tried to stop him, he tried gouging out the eye of our PL.
This went on for about 10 minutes of just absolute mental swinging and screaming, no one could restrain or stop him. MPs (our version of police) came barreling in, tased him and took him away.
Long story short he killed his career; dishonourably discharged etc. The "mouth" spent at least 3 months in hospital getting reconstruction surgery.
Our PL also had a stint in hospital as the scratch marks on his eye got infected and nearly lost sight in it.
The guy that copped the beating deserved it, and ultimately left. One of the boys that was friends with attacker pointed out he was already suffering with PTSD and a bad breakup.
I feel bad for him as think a long steep descent into alcohol came after and he was a top bloke.
Broad Side Of A Sledgehammer
I took a LOT in school; more than I should have. Looking back, I rarely fought if it was my safety on the line. Because I know I can take a few punches, and self-loathing makes self defense pretty damned difficult.
So, I'm in Junior High. 8th grade. I've been dealing with bullshit and I cope by silently fuming, like always. Cue a small kid I'll call Chen. Very nice Chinese kid, always friendly with people. One of the school bullies, who wasn't a small guy by any means, just shoulder checks Chen into a locker. HARD.
I completely lost it. Yelled his name, walked up, and when he did that stupid bully "What're you gonna do?" line, I headbutted the ever-living fu*k out of his face. I have a flat, kinda broad forehead. Like the broad side of a sledgehammer.
He yells "Fu*k!" and stumbles back. I grab his shirt and ring his bell with a few rights. Fu*ked my hand up pretty bad. Also had a knot on my forehead because his nose was sturdier than expected.
Plus side? Everyone left Chen alone after that.
No Happy Ending Here
A former friend of mine - musician, actor, barista - broke up with his girlfriend. She then asked him to leave her house and return to his own, less than two miles away. He had his car there, nothing of his was in her house. Does an amiable separation ensue, especially considering he initiated the breakup? No.
He responded to her request that he leave by knocking her phone out of her hands, hitting her multiple times, throwing her through a glass cabinet, and beating her unconscious while she lay in broken glass screaming for him to stop. He then drove to the police station and turned himself in, saying he thought he killed her.
Afterwards, his only punishment was one year of probation, which he violated multiple times without consequence, assaulting her and choking her. Her only protection was a restraining order, which he broke multiple times without consequence.
He even had the gall to complain on social media the day after his arrest about being treated like a criminal by the police, after he walked into the police station with her blood drying on his hands. He spent one night in jail.
Protecting The Cat
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The quiet one in our college was a tiny sweet and harmless always smiling girl. She was kind to everyone and stupid people mistook her for weak, because she just walked away when being picked on. One day the local bullies were chasing after the campus cat with hockey sticks. As they ran by her table she let out an audible sound of anger, stood up and smacked her flat tray right into the first ones face...with force.
He smashed backwards into the ground and the other ones crashed right into him. She calmly sat back down with a smile and watched the cat run away.
They were too startled to react for a while and when one of them finally started to yell at her she just stared him down with the most murderous look in her eyes. They left and she never got bothered by them again
- teal_ish