Top Stories

Women Describe The Creepiest Guys They've Ever Encountered

Women Describe The Creepiest Guys They've Ever Encountered
Image by Nino Carè from Pixabay

It's been said that men are afraid women will laugh at them and that women are afraid that men will kill them. That should tell you a lot about the power imbalance between men and women and how frightened women can get doing things men might take for granted, like simply saying "no."

After Redditor AllWhammyNoMorals asked the online community, "Women of Reddit, what was your worst run-in with a creep?" women shared their stories.


"When I was 12..."

When I was 12 and just starting to develop, a guy told me 'your titties are coming along nicely.' I was so freaked out!

JimBobMcFantaPants

Sadly, this is common and by the time they're adults, many women report experiences with sexual harrassment that go back years.

"She handed us our bags..."

My friend and I were 16 and wandering around at a Sephora in the mall, just swatching eyeshadow and highlighter on our wrists. He was the only guy in the store, and I only vaguely noticed him in the same aisle as us just before we paid. It didn't ring any alarm bells for me whatsoever, because why should it? We picked up our highlighter and went to pay, the girl at the register rung up our items, leaned over, and said quietly, "That guy followed you two into the store and has been watching you in each aisle. I'm going to give you your bags and go ask him if he needs any help, you two need to get as far away as possible. If you see him follow you outside of this store, go talk to security." She handed us our bags, gestured at the door, and walked up to him as we ran out.

I hope she gets all the good things in this life.

thetastykhargohst

"There was a guy in my hometown..."

There was a guy in my hometown that would wait outside the high school, with the door to his corvette open, hoping a girl would get in. I lived in the middle of nowhere. To get to my house I had to walk over a mile, on a one-lane dirt road, winding through a forest. One day as the school bus was approaching my laneway to drop me off, the corvette guy was waiting in my laneway, with his door open. The bus driver wouldn't let me off the bus; he continued to the next drop and told me to go to that house and call my parents to pick me up. (This was in the days before cell phones existed.)

ElectronicSpeech563

"I'm a bartender..."

I, unfortunately, have a few stories but this is one that tops the list. I'm a bartender and one night I was serving three men who work at an Italian restaurant nearby. I was offered a job, which I politely declined. They were my last patrons. I closed out their tab, finished my side work, and had a busboy walk me to my car. As the busboy left in his own car, this black Porsche SUV blocks me in my spot. The window is rolled down and I realize it's the owner of the Italian restaurant. He asks if I want to go home with him. I decline.

He asks if the busboy was my boyfriend and I lied and said yes. He scoffed and sped off. I hurry and leave to head home. As I pull into my parking spot at my house, I see the same SUV drive by! I woke up my neighbor who was a military guy, and he said he'd keep an eye out. That night I found the guy's name online, his Facebook profile, his business profile, his wife's profile, and his phone number. I took screenshots and sent them all to him telling him not to harass me or I'll retaliate. I never heard from him again. Lesson learned: always pay attention to your surroundings while driving home.

tumbledstone

"In fifth grade..."

In fifth grade, after ballet practice, I was only wearing shorts and a jacket over my dance clothes (leotard and tights), and standing in a chipotle line. Some old dude was behind me and asking me about my phone. According to my mother, he was looking at my body, scanning it up and down. Even before I found that out he gave me the creeps. When we left, he rushed to pick up his order and ran out the door after us and followed us home. He stopped following at the last turn. I had trouble sleeping.

peachyjams

"Over the next couple of years..."

The most memorable was when I was sitting in my parents' front garden, on the swing, reading. The way everything is laid out with the trees and whatnot, you can barely see the swing/deck/BBQ area from any perspective that's not from the front door. Very private spot.

Anyway, I was just sitting there reading when I hear someone walking up. Assume it's a family member because how would it not be? Someone plops down on the swing next to me, throws an arm around me and it's just ... some guy. Says some stuff, tries to move closer, and proceeds to attempt to keep me from leaving when I get up.

I got of there, practically sprint back to the house, and tell my dad what just happened and that there's some a-hole in our garden being completely gross at me. He just laughs and says, "Oh, that's just [new across the street neighbor]. Be nice."

The f***?

Over the next couple years, he would go on to make me and my older, only occasionally visiting, sisters super uncomfortable any chance he got. Long stories. And his poor, but large and angry dog was always loose in the neighborhood and murdering other people's pets.

tornadobutts

"He revved his engine..."

Was walking down the sidewalk and a guy whistled at me from his car, I ignored him and kept walking. He revved his engine loudly and ran his car up on the sidewalk, missing me by a couple of feet. I was 12.

EstherandThyme


A friend of mine had a similar experience. She was barely fourteen at the time and says she has been scared walking down that street since.

"A guy who stays regularly..."

A guy who stays regularly at the hotel I work in; all of the female staff knows to avoid getting caught alone with him.

He has a habit of asking us if we know of any "adult fun" nearby. If you just act like you don't know what he's talking about he'll say he wants to go to brothels and have a good time without his wife. He'll then progress to offering you various amounts of money for the night and asking you what you like in bed and what you'd be willing to do. He developed such an obsession with one of our staff before she left that security would walk around with her when he stayed because he'd followed her out to her car at one point making suggestive comments.

Got stuck alone with him once as I was behind the counter and he stood blocking the only way out from behind it. He started the usual chat and I told him I wasn't interested. He then moved on to asking me what time I finished, if I lived nearby if I walked home alone. My male coworker turned up then but he creeped on me from a distance the rest of the day and watched me leave. I have no doubt he will assault someone one day, hotel won't ban him because he regularly spends money.

skyaniwan

"I was 21..."

I was 21 in a strange city and got separated from my friend at a bar. I was drunk and wanted to go back to the hotel so as I'm leaving, this guy who had been sitting near me all night followed and got IN MY CAB with me and closed the door.

Again, I was very drunk so had to think quickly and stay as calm as possible. He tried to talk to me and I just nodded and made small talk (I didn't know if rejection would turn him violent so I played along the best I could) after telling the driver where to take me.

The whole time this guy is moving closer and touching me, so as soon as the car stopped I got out, RAN into the hotel lobby where I knew this man would be following me, and screamed to the hotel security and desk employees, "I DO NOT KNOW THIS MAN. HE IS FOLLOWING ME," and they took it from there.

77thHorcrux

"I told him..."

Weird Larry lived in my dorm. He unsuccessfully hit on all the girls, which is why he was Weird Larry. It totally ruined his self-esteem.

One night, Larry just showed up and invited himself into my room. I was not fully clothed. He took this as an invitation and climbed up into my bunk bed. I asked him to get down, and he asked me to come up there with him so we could have sex.

When I refused, he took some quarters out of his pocket, put them on my nightstand, and said, "What if I paid you? You could do your laundry!"

I told him that wasn't enough change to do a full load of laundry, and he started crying and getting snot all over my pillow.

I had to go wake up the RD (person in charge of the dorm) and have him escorted out. Then he wouldn't stop sending me messages. I saved the messages and used them to file a restraining order. A few other girls wanted in on it, so Weird Larry was evicted from his own dormitory and had to drop out of school.

NeedsMoreTuba

Here's a sobering fact:

In 2018, an online survey conducted by a nonprofit called Stop Street Harassmentfound that 81 percent of women and 43 percent of men had experienced some form of sexual harassment during their lifetime. That's a much higher number than previous polls, so that should give you an idea of how widespread the issue is.

Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments below.

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

People Break Down The Times They Realized They Hated Someone In Less Than A Minute

Reddit user dirty_maria asked: 'Have you ever listened to someone talk for less than a minute and immediately felt like you wouldn't get along with them? What did they say?'

woman sitting on yellow armless chair near gray laptop computer
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

We've all heard of love at first sight.

Hate at first sight is less common, but it does happen (though it's not always described that way).

Sometimes, two people don't mesh well. They could never get along, even if they were the last two people on Earth, and its usually because one of them said or did something during their first interaction that rubbed the other person the complete wrong way.

Redditors know this all to well and are ready to share their stories.

Keep reading...Show less
A person runs on a beach at sunset
Photo by SwapnIl Dwivedi

Not all relationships are meant to be forever.

Heck, some are meant to expire after only a few minutes.

The sooner we know when to run, the better.

Why do so many people hold on when life is telling us to flee?

Keep reading...Show less

From the beginning of time, kids have always been adorable, heartwarming...and totally weird.

And what's the best way for a kid to show off their weirdness?

Show and tell, of course!

From glass eyes and famous knives to animals both dead and alive, these are certifiably the most bizarre things kids have brought to school.

1. All Eyes On Him

In fifth grade, we were studying human anatomy. When we got to the eyes, a kid brought in a bag full of cow’s eyes. His dad worked in a slaughterhouse. The teacher was horrified. He had brought them in, unannounced. The teacher had no plans for dissection and was just going to show us a filmstrip about eyes or something.

The teacher put them in the staff refrigerator for the day since we were living in the Arizona heat. Afterward, when the teacher returned the bag of eyes to my classmate, he took them home. On the walk home, he gave them out to any kid who wanted one. I’ll leave all that to your imagination.

alvinathequeena

2. He Was A Terrible Liar

I once had a kid in my class who was around the age of six and had a lot going on in his life. A part of it was that he was a compulsive liar with absolutely no sense of when a lie was so poorly constructed that everyone would know. Every single day, he would say he had something for Show and Tell. Most days, we “didn't have time” for his Show and Tell.

Every so often, we kind of had to let him have a go at Show and Tell. He'd stand up, ready to do his Show and Tell, then wander over to my desk, browse for a minute, and pick up the most random things. It would be things like a post it note, a sharpener, and once it was the custom "well done" stamp that actually had my name on it.

Then, he would say some poorly constructed story about how he found it in Africa when he went there for tea yesterday with his auntie or some such thing. He'd get really upset if he realized nobody believed him, though even at that age, most of the kids had the tact or gullibility to just smile and nod.

MerylSquirrel

3. The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges | Insomnia Cured Here | Flickrwww.flickr.com

My mom was a teacher. I didn’t live with her, but I would occasionally go help her move stuff around, hang stuff up, and clean her classrooms. Occasionally, I’d bring a friend or two while we were in high school. My six-year-old sister attended the school that our mother taught at. One day, my mom called and asked if I’d come by with the two friends that I usually brought.

We showed up about 20 mins later. Without explaining, my mother sent us to my sister's classroom. We knocked, walked in, and my sister yelled, “My Show and Tell is here! These are my brothers. They are funny.” I am so lucky to be friends with these two guys to this day. Without hesitation, they started an age-appropriate 3 Stooges routine.

One climbed on the other’s shoulders. They juggled school supplies. They pretended to trip each other. They made funny noises. I barely played a role. My sister's class was a continuous roar of laughter. Even the teacher was crying. She asked us to stop/leave because she didn’t want kids passing out from laughing. I’ll never forget my sister's little face, looking so proud.

1drose

4. Spreading A Fake Story

When I was in the fourth grade, since my grandpa lived so close, I called him to go to my house to pick up this beaded necklace that my dad told me he got from a monk in Vietnam for Show and Tell, unbeknownst to my parents that were at work. Months later, during a parent-teacher conference, the teacher mentioned my dad being in Vietnam and the item I brought in.

My mom was very confused and had to tell him that my dad was never in Vietnam. She had a laugh about it when she realized this was one of my dad's "stories." He knew I was gullible and would always tell me weird stories about him like getting shot with arrows while the "wound" scars he had were from getting moles removed. He got a kick out of it but never thought I'd share these stories with other people.

Rawpunkmeg

5. It Was Dad’s Idea

As an elementary school kid, we were supposed to bring toy animals from home and tell why we picked or liked that animal. Most kids brought stuffed animals or action figures, but this one crazy girl brought a real-life bearded dragon. She brought it in a plastic bag and just whipped it out and flopped it on the table when it was her turn. The teacher, who was female and usually very chill, freaked out and called her parents to come get the "beast."

A few minutes later, her Russian dad steps into the room and you could see in his face that he didn't understand what the problem was with the bearded dragon. The teacher freaked out again and talked to him how it could have gone on a rampage and could have bitten someone and how it's animal cruelty to transport a live animal in a regular one-time-use plastic bag.

The dad realized that she was super scared and overreacting, so he just said, "Excuse me madam," with a thick Russian accent, took the bag, and walked out. The whole time, his face didn't show any emotion at all, as if that type of stuff happens to him all day. The girl was the hero of the day and she somehow didn't get into any trouble because it actually was her dad's idea.

FreshFerdi

6. The Hair Off His Head

brown hair on blue textilePhoto by Corina Rainer on Unsplash

The weirdest thing someone brought to Show and Tell was a bag full of his own hair. To be fair, he didn’t actually try to show and tell it. He also brought in an action man. I noticed him and his best friend playing with the action man. They were putting something on its head. I went over to him and asked them what it was.

“It’s hair!” he said. “Hair?” I said, “Where did it come from?” The kid said, “It’s Stevie’s hair! He got it cut on the weekend!” The child had a hair cut, brought the clippings home, then put them in his school bag and brought them into school. That hair stayed in his school bag for a full week before his mother noticed.

Princess_mothership

7. They Were Surprised With A Lesson

I taught fifth grade in a school with really rich kids, while really low-income kids bussed in. One of the low-income kids brought a coconut for her Show and Tell to talk about Trinidad, where her dad was from. When she cracked it open, it was completely rotten inside and smelled awful. I was so worried about the kid being embarrassed.

Then, one of the rich kids, who was also of a pretty low intellect, looked at it with wide eyes and said, "It's like the earth: the core, the mantle and the crust!" which is something I think he had never really understood before. So, it actually turned out pretty well.

Sanmateomary

8. Talk About A Bad Hair Day

Once, one of the kids in my class brought a remote control helicopter to class and flew it around for Show and Tell. It was super cool until he accidentally got the blades wrapped around a girl’s hair. I think the nurse spent an hour getting it out.

BJT207

9. Detention Over Darts

black and brown dart boardPhoto by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

I did a similar thing as Show and Tell in primary school. I think it was year seven. I brought darts to school and when I got to my first class, I showed the teacher. They immediately took them off me. I got sent to the head teacher’s office where I was given a sort of detention. Essentially, I couldn't go to the school event that was happening at the time and I was supposed to sit outside his office at both lunch and morning tea for a week or so. I just wanted to show everyone the darts.

Rossismyname

10. Not Your Typical Toy

In the early 90s, one of my students brought a pink vibrator and called it something else, I can’t remember exactly what it was. He honestly thought it was some kind of toy. The rest of the class was young enough to not notice what it really was since this one was not detailed, just a simple one. I remember calling his mom that evening. It was pretty scary and insane.

She just laughed it off and came to school the next day to pick it up. The crazy part, that’s how we met and she is my wife for 15 years now. We even have 2 more kids.

MexicanTacoLord

11. A Very Popular Accident

When I was in the sixth grade, I took a belly dancing bralette into class for Show and Tell that my brother sent me from his deployment. We were studying the Middle East and I had something from there, so I thought it would be cool to bring in. I remember my teacher gulping, eyes bulging, asking, “Just…that? That’s all they wear?” Then, I said, “Yeah, I guess so.” A few weeks later, I realized I'd made a hilarious mistake.

Turns out, he sent me his girlfriend’s present and his girlfriend got my camel book. At least I was very, very popular with the sixth-grade boys for a little while.

Ok_Wait888

12. A Horrifying Misunderstanding

white and black skull figurine on black surfacePhoto by Mathew MacQuarrie on Unsplash

I had a student bring in “her grandfather's skull” for Show and Tell. The class was absolutely horrified. It turned out that the student’s grandfather was a doctor and it was the skull that he kept in his office as a model. He was still very much alive.

NinjaGinny

13. Just A Kid And His Combine

I went to school in a tiny town in eastern Colorado. A kid in my class drove his dad's combine to school for Show and Tell. At the time, we were in the fourth grade. I still find it absolutely crazy that nobody really cared that he drove it and that there was this humongous piece of farm equipment sitting on the front lawn all day.

TortugaJones

14. Not The Right Form Of Transportation

When I was in the third grade, this dumb kid in my class decided to bring a live bat to class. The only problem was that he put the bat in a plastic bag in his book bag. Obviously, the bat didn't survive the trip because it couldn't breathe. I still remember the kid removing the ex-bat from the plastic bag almost 26 years later.

GloveofAnts

15. Post Surgery Show

blue and green peacock featherPhoto by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash

When my son was in preschool, he brought me in for a Show and Tell a couple of months after I had brain surgery. I had a shaved head, gnarly scar, and a crazy eye. He made sure I showed everyone my crazy eye up close. It was funny to me and made me happy. He had a hard time seeing me like that in the beginning.

firestarsupermama

16. Danger To Some, Collectibles to Others

One Show and Tell, I brought two knives. My dad is from a region in France where they make famous knives, Laguiole, and I owned two of them. One was made of horn and one was bright orange. At the time, it didn't cross my mind that it could be a problem, but they called my parents who weren’t mad at me for bringing them.

Lyscity

17. An Innocent Interest

I'm a preschool teacher in a state that allows the use of weed. One of my students brought in a plastic tube the local dispensary uses for pre-rolled joints. He said he found it in his parents' room and he brought it because he liked the popping sound it made when he opened it.

Dumposaurusrex

18. A Strange Thing To Keep

File:Replacement surgery - Total hip replacement -- Smart-Servier ...commons.wikimedia.org

When I was in the fifth grade, my friend brought a metal hip replacement piece from a human body for Show and Tell. It was from a human body that her father had cremated and kept. It was for a "What would you like to be when you grow up?" sort of Show and Tell. She wanted to be a mortician like her dad. And do you want to know the worst part?

She allowed for this piece to be passed around the class before telling everyone, including the teacher, what it was. Obviously, chaos ensued afterward.

Inthesomeday

19. A Poor Description

When I was in second grade, I brought this multitool thing that I got from a nearby aquarium. It had things like binoculars, a compass, a mirror and I think one or two extra gadgets. It was cool because each part of it folded back nicely! The binoculars were ingenious. Anyway, the only word second grade me knew how to describe the multitool was as a “pocket knife.” My teacher had a panic attack and wouldn’t let me show it.

aeskulS

20. Exposing Bad Habits

My wife is a teacher in a major US city. One of her fourth-grade students brought in a packet of his mom's illicit substances to show the class during drug awareness week. He got some visits from the principals and school counselor, maybe even the men in blue.

DiggingUpKnowledge

21. Case Of Mistaken Identity

white rabbit on green grassPhoto by Satyabratasm on Unsplash

The teacher whose classroom across the hall from me had a student who brought what he thought was a lucky rabbit's foot to show to the class. He had excitedly announced he had enough for everyone in the class. The rabbit's foot was a tampon.

Saerica22

22. A Different Type Of Rock Collection

At my school, some kid brought in his collection of “laundry rocks” which were crumpled up pieces of paper that he put in his pockets. When his mom did the laundry, they would turn hard like rocks. He said he did it by accident once, liked it, and started deliberately putting crumpled paper in his pockets to make more.

Pro_Gamer_Queen21

23. Different Animals For Different Years

A student of mine once brought in a taxidermied bear from the shoulders up that his dad had hunted with a bow. The best part was that his parents didn’t know he brought it. He snuck it to school in a huge black garbage bag. A couple years later, he brought homing pigeons that he and his dad are raising and training and did a whole presentation with a headset mic and everything for the school.

The whole family is full of the nicest and coolest people I’ve ever met. It was easily one of my top three favorite families of all time.

Accio_Espresso

24. Show Us Your Hands

Walnuts on marketplace | 🇩🇪Professional Photographer 🔴Twi… | Flickrwww.flickr.com

A teacher once made me the subject of a Show and Tell. My parents, for reasons understood only by them, thought it'd be a great idea to get raw, still-in-the-husk black walnuts by the bushel. Taking the husks off resulted in all of us getting our hands dyed a nice, deep walnut brown color. I guess it never occurred to anyone to wear gloves until it was too late.

The teacher said, "Ocelot, show the class your hands and tell them all why they look that way!" It was so humiliating to walk around with what looked like dirty hands and black fingernails for a week.

Wide_Ocelot

25. A Secret Not To Share

Once, I caught some live salamanders in our basement to bring to Show and Tell. I put them back when I got home. My dad had helped me do it. When mom found out later, she went ballistic because she didn't want people to know that we had salamanders in our basement. It was an old farmhouse with a really damp cellar. It's actually really funny looking back at it now.

ScepticofEverything

26. Practice For The Future

When I was about eight or nine, I brought a pill case containing mouse organs preserved in olive oil to Show and Tell. Monday was the heart, Tuesday the liver…you get the idea. My cat had caught the mouse, I confiscated it, and then our exchange student and I dissected it on the back porch. I swear neither of us are psychopaths!

We were both aspiring doctors/surgeons, so we thought it was super cool. My teacher did not agree, and my parents definitely got a call home. The happy end of the story is that our exchange student is now a cardiothoracic surgeon, so the mouse’s sacrifice was not in vain.

Djp775

27. Scaring The Substitute

a knife on a tree stumpPhoto by Dominik Sostmann on Unsplash

When I was in the fourth grade, I once got in trouble for bringing two bayonets and a pistol to Show and Tell. One bayonet was from WWI and the pistol and other bayonet were from WWII. I had okay’d them with the teacher beforehand and my parents knew about it, but alas, there was a substitute teacher that day. What 4th-grade boy wouldn't think those would be awesome Show and Tell items?

This was the same substitute teacher that requested a parent-teacher conference about how I was "influencing his peers by talking about Satanism." My Dad politely told her that I was reading The Lord of the Rings at the time. Those weren't spells, they were elven script. He's not drawing violent images, he's drawing Helm's Deep..." If you were familiar with English Literature, you would encourage him to read TLotR instead of the garbage you have on the preferred reading list."

DevilsAdvocate9

28. They’re Back To Life

My husband and young daughter found a pretty big wasp nest one fall. We brought it in, and I put it in a big ice cream pail, into the freezer. After Christmas with school back in, my daughter took the wasp nest for Show and Tell. Everyone really thought it was cool, including the teacher, and it got placed on a counter by the window. About a month later, I got a call from the teacher telling me the wasp nest had started buzzing, and could I come and get it. So I did.

Birdwatcher1981

29. A Souvenir From Dad

My mother is a teacher and back in the 80s, a kid brought a baseball bat to Show and Tell. When my mother asked why, he explained that at the weekend, his parents had a huge party that spilled onto the street and the officers turned up. When his dad got told by the officers to turn down the music and pack up the party, his dad grabbed the baseball bat and said to the cop, "If you don't leave, I'll ram this so far up your butt you'll be a copsicle" My mother shut down Show and Tell after that.

Catespice

30. Simply Not School Appropriate

gorillaz | mobu27 | Flickrwww.flickr.com

Where I was schooled, we didn’t do Show and Tell, except for on one occasion at age 10. I brought in the 2001 Gorrilaz album and I honestly thought it was the best thing ever. My school was a Catholic school and they obviously confiscated it. It could possibly have been the “worst” thing that they saw.

WillSendNudesForCorn

31. Keeping An Eye Out

When I was in the first grade, one of my classmates brought her dad's glass eye and a photo of him holding it with his eye socket all empty. First grade me didn't really fully understand the concept, so I went home and told my parents that my friend's dad could pop out his eyeball and I fully believed it was real.

Thorhees

32. Third Time’s A Charm

I brought my life-size Speedy Gonzales stuffed animal on three separate occasions to class in the second grade. It was so old and beat up that the foam pearls were spilling on the floor every time, and I had "sewn" it shut with staples to no avail. The third time my teacher asked why on earth I needed to bring it over and over again and I tried to lie and say I'd never brought it in before.

No one cared when the kid brought his boa constrictor that desecrated on the floor numerous times. I felt cheated.

gardenkweenPNW

33. Great Pieces Of History

grey metal fence at the other side of the roadPhoto by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

This was a great Show and Tell item gone wrong. A girl in my class brought a piece of the Berlin Wall that her grandmother gave her since she was of German descent. A kid dropped it while passing it around and she went home that day with several smaller pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Quicksi1verLoL

34. Unconventional To Say The Least

I am a teacher, but avoid Show and Tell like the plague because I don't want to see booger collections or whatever. I do remember in fourth grade, we had a bring your pet day. Everyone mostly brought normal pets, but one girl brought in her pet skunk. It had had its scent glands removed and was like a puppy or a kitten and really quite cute. Sadly, my mom refused to even entertain the idea of our own skunk.

Alzroy

35. An Incident Waiting To Happen

When I was in Kindergarten, my mom used to call my aunt or uncle to come over and babysit me every once in a while. This was the 70s, so they were the really "cool" aunt and uncle since they were significantly younger than my mom. They were always more than willing to play with me on the swing set or in the sandbox.

They would smoke and it smelled really funny. One day, while we were playing and they were smoking their smelly cigarettes, I noticed a barrette on it with really pretty fluffy white feathers. I wanted it so bad. My aunt gave it to me and put it in my hair. I LOVED IT! It was like no other barrette I had ever seen.

I brought it with me to school the next day for Show and Tell. The teacher asked if she could see it, so I showed it to her. When my mom came to pick me up from school the teacher wanted to talk to her for a minute. She told me to play outside and wait for her, so I did. When we got in the car, my mom asked me, "Do you know what a roach clip is?" I was like, "I don’t know?" She said, "Where did you get that barrette from?"

I said, "Auntie V gave it to me." She just said, "I knew it...ok, Auntie V and Uncle M will not be babysitting you anymore." I was absolutely devastated.

Beautiful_Chaos559

36. When Toys Are Scarce

white strings on blue surfacePhoto by Josefin on Unsplash

When I was in kindergarten, my mom would occasionally let me play with tampons by putting them in water and watching them expand. Clearly, there was no TV or Internet in my house. I called the tampons ‘water flowers’ and snuck one into my backpack for show and tell. My teachers were in hysterics when they called my mom about it.

My mom was in good spirits, she even teased my teachers by saying I’d bring some condoms or pads the next week

BottleOJen

37. He Can’t Be Tamed

We looked after a small Joey after we hit and injured his mother while driving when I was in grade four or five. It wasn’t the worst animal to bring to Show and Tell...until he thought it would be a great idea to go for a skip around the school. At the end of the day, he was a wild animal. My mum fed the little fella and whatnot until he got large enough. Then, he went to a small zoo just outside of Brisbane to live.

Ccr4darwin

38. The Living Artefact

When my cousin was a little kid, he brought my 100-year-old great-grandmother in for Show and Tell. She still had her mind intact so it ended up being a hit because she told them stories of how she lived before electricity was in every home.

Chuffberry

39. An Innocent Piece Of Jewelry

shallow focus photography of woman sitting on stairPhoto by Tamara Bellis on Unsplash

I had a student bring in a jelly "bracelet." He was so excited to show it to all of the other first graders. What made it so special was that it vibrated when you pushed a little button. Upon further inspection, I saw that it was a ring, not a bracelet. And it definitely wasn't for a wrist.

Heastines

40. Just To Be Sure

I was in the fourth grade when the Cedar Fire happened in San Diego County. There were two or three inches of ashfall on our driveway, so I picked some up and put it in a baggy. Two years later, we moved to Florida and we did an "introduce yourself with one thing" presentation at the beginning of the school year. I brought my bag of ashes. The teacher made me verify, several times, that I had not brought in a baggy of cremains.

Dontlovemenorshouldu

41. Some Love More Than Others

On the first day of class, everyone brought something they loved. One sweet girl brought a teddy bear her boyfriend bought her for their anniversary and was talking about how good and caring of a boyfriend he was. The boyfriend, on the other hand, brought an iPhone that he bought himself. Everyone was kind of uncomfortable and I was trying not to laugh.

Warenzillo

42. Not The Best Choice

orange and white light bulbPhoto by Tamas Pap on Unsplash

In fifth grade, we had to Show and Tell a recipe we had made, with or without parental help, explain the recipe, how it’s made, etc., and bring some in class. Someone homemade sushi about three days in advance, and brought them to school on a super hot day, with the Show and Tell in the afternoon. I didn’t eat sushi for ten years after that because I thought this is what it was supposed to taste like. It’s a miracle people didn’t get sick.

Flashcat666

43. Sharing The Wealth

My wife is a kindergarten teacher. One year, a kid in her class brought in his parent’s drug money. The problem was, he didn't wait until Show and Tell time to show everyone. The kids were having a little free playtime in the classroom. My wife was getting things together for a lesson. One of the kids came up to show her the money the other kid gave him.

It was $50 in fives and tens. Then she looked around and half the class had handfuls of money. She gathered it all and called the mother. The mother told her it was the rent money, and they kept it safe under a couch cushion. My wife said she counted almost $2,000 in fives, tens, twentys, and fifties. Yeah sure, rent money.

Elastic_slacker

44. Not So Popular With The Kids

When I was in grade 6, I brought in a photo of my grandfather shaking hands with Winston Churchill. My grandfather was in low-level politics and met him. I didn't think it was that cool but my dad promised me it would be worth bringing in. Nobody in my class cared at all. But my teacher called in other teachers to show them and they all asked me a million questions. I have no idea where the photo went.

Buffalowingss

45. Take Your Dad To School Day

man playing cardsPhoto by Fengyou Wan on Unsplash

When I was in the 1st grade, I forgot to pick something out for Show and Tell. So, in the morning, I panicked. Just so I had something to bring, I asked my dad if he would be my Show and Tell. He was so excited and happy, he called out of work and went to the basement to grab some stuff. 10 minutes later, he came running up with a weird-looking briefcase and told me to get ready for school.

He was so excited. He drove me to school, went inside with me, and asked when Show and Tell was. After finding out it wasn't until before lunch, he got a little disappointed, but he went to go get coffee. The time came around for Show and Tell and he came in right as it was my turn. I tell everyone that this is my dad. He raised me.

Then, my dad told me to take a seat because he wanted to show everyone something. I had no clue what to expect—but he still shocked me. He opened the briefcase and, to my surprise, he brought magic stuff. He put on a show for the whole class and finished up with some cool yo-yo tricks and gave my teacher a bouquet of roses. She ended up blushing and everyone teased her for liking my dad. The whole class was in awe and my classmates wanted him to be at their birthdays. It was great.

Highmendestroyer

46. And It Was Never Seen Again

When I was in Kindergarten, I brought in all my Power Rangers toys. They were the transforming ones where the head would flip around to show them normal, then in their ranger helmet. Some kid asked to have a play with the black ranger. Then, he threw it over the back fence and I never saw it again. I was so devastated.

Julianprice_

47. A Tragic Turn Of Events

I tried to bring my goldfish. Unfortunately, I didn't tell anyone I wanted to bring him and tried to take him out of the tank with my hands. My parents caught me before he croaked. My sister, whose fish shared the tank with him, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

The_Tic-Tac_Kid

48. A Strange Food From A Strange Kid

broccoli vegetablePhoto by Reinaldo Kevin on Unsplash

When I was in kindergarten, I brought cheesy broccoli to Show and Tell because it was my favorite thing that my mom made to eat and I wanted to share it with everyone. I was really excited to bring it and helped her prepare it the morning of. I thought everyone would think it was cool. I brought something everyone could eat instead of my favorite toy.

The rest of the class was not as excited as me and no one, except the teacher and I think maybe one other kid, ate any of it. I was a bit disappointed that nobody liked it, but at the same time was happy because it meant there was more for me. Looking back, it was a really weird thing to bring, but I was also a really strange kid.

-eDgAR-

49. One Girl’s Junk Is Another Girl’s Fun

There was a girl in my brother's year whose dad owned a junk/salvage place. The girl once brought in an old thermometer. It seemed like it was cool, whatever. She then goes, "And then this is the most fun part," and proceeds to smash the thermometer on the desk and play with the mercury. I don’t know how that situation got resolved, but I do know that by the time I got to first grade, we no longer had Show and Tell.

MadameBurner

50. Relaying A Deeper Meaning

In grade six, we had a girl off a farm bring in, “The Most Powerful Weapon in the World.” We were so excited to see what it was because it fit in a shoebox. It turns out the “Weapon” was a cow tongue from a beast her father had hunted recently. She went on to say something to the effect of that, "The words that come from your mouth and tongue are so powerful they can be a weapon for good or a weapon for destruction. And that's why a tongue is the most powerful weapon in the world." I have never forgotten that show and tell.

Scarecrow834

51. Released The Beast

a person holding a spider in their handsPhoto by Philipp Lansing on Unsplash

When I was in the fifth grade and going to school in Arizona, this girl in our class brought in a glass jar with a tarantula and a black widow. I have no clue how she caught both in one day, or why. Within an hour, the tarantula was upside down in the jar, not moving. On the same day, there was a fire drill and yes, someone knocked it off the girl’s desk, breaking the jar and releasing the black widow.

We never found the black widow, but the teacher made sure to stomp on the dead tarantula just in case. The same thing happened with our glass fire ant farm in the second grade, now that I think about it. I don’t know why people kept bringing these kinds of insects into school, or why our teachers let them.

skbiglia

Woman with white frame glasses
Photo by Peter Miranda on Unsplash

Every high school had the popular girl, the favorite jock, the weird kid, and the smart kid. Whether or not they were the weirdest or the smartest, the population always seems to come to an agreement about who should carry the title.

But sometimes what the smartest kid in school winds up doing with their life isn't what everyone might have expected.

Or, they might excel beyond even their peers' wildest dreams.

Keep reading...Show less