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People Describe The Worst Teacher They Ever Had

Some people aren't meant to do certain jobs, whether we like to hear it or not. Having a bad teacher is especially dreadful: A teacher's job is to foster an environment conducive to the learning process. A bad one can discourage a child from pursuing even the subjects in which they display considerable talent.

After Redditor Duo1412 asked the online community, "People of Reddit, who was your worst teacher, and why?" people shared their stories... and we find ourselves feeling infuriated on their behalf.


"Ended up spending the night..."

Had to get a bad test signed by a parent. Came home to my mom having serial seizures. Ended up spending the night in the hospital with her. When I told my 5th grade teacher why I couldn't get it signed, she said it was no excuse and I kept the F. As I turned around while crying, my crush was right there looking at me creeped out.

BigMik0

"The teacher who..."

The teacher who used to touch girls' shoulders and backs all the time, and sat on a girl's lap during our lesson once.

IAmTheAccident

"She also led the cheerleading squad..."

A freshman year English teacher who had us do a pie chart assigning blame for the holocaust after reading Elie Wiesel's "Night." One of the categories was "Jews for not trying to escape," and another was "God." When we asked if we could assign zero to any categories she said no.

She also led the cheerleading squad and harassed girls in her class to join, like going down a line and asking each girl why they hadn't signed up for cheer, but would pointedly skip girls she didn't like in front of the class.

decadrachma

"I wish Hell was a real place..."

My fourth grade teacher got the entire class to say they hated my guts in unison with her 3 times. She similarly publicly humiliated other children as well

During parent teacher interviews she would rant on and on about how we were all "sex perverts" and obsessed with sex. Did I mention we were fourth graders?

She believed that ice cream had automotive antifreeze in it, that the reflective lines on the road were made from condor retinas (WTF) and that meat in the supermarket was coloured red with highly toxic dye. She would smoke in the classrooms during recess and there were rumours that the cigarettes were accompanied by rye whiskey.

In geography she taught us that the continent of Australia was named after a country in Europe (next to Switzerland) and that each state was a separate country with a different language. Tasmanians may be surprised to learn that they should be speaking Portuguese in their little island republic. When kids who had been to or had relatives Down Under corrected her, she became enraged and said no single country would "be allowed" to occupy an entire continent

I wish Hell was a real place so she could spend eternity there. A person like that has no business working with kids.

douchebagfckboi

"If I asked him any questions..."

My 6th grade teacher used to join in with the bullies when they're ere making fun of me, and laugh when I started crying. If I asked him any questions he would repeat the question in a mocking voice and the bullies would laugh.

zuzuofthewolves

"Here's a 50 page paper..."

Here's a 50 page paper of chemistry problems. Finish it by the end of class and don't make a sound unless you're asking me a question I'll berate you for.

PM-Me-Your-Tits-Plz

"This might make it sound..."

Grade 8 HR teacher.

She is basically as two-faced as a person can be. If she liked you, then she spares no effort or expense to make sure that everything is absolutely perfect just for you. If she dislikes you, she spares no effort or expense to make your life absolute hell.

This might make it sound like all you'll need to do is get on her good side, but it's not nearly that simple. She has a very specific set of expectations from the students she likes, and will go out of her way to impose those expectations on those students. Being a favorite of hers is basically surrendering any semblance of autonomy in the class. And if by some sheer force of will a student dares defy her, then that student is automatically placed at the bottom of the classroom hierarchy and loathed for the the rest of the year.

I was one of the students who went from being a favorite to being the bottom, and let me tell you, it very noticeably f***** up my education and set me on a course for failure.

ThymeofDying

"I often wonder how sadistic a person must be..."

My 6th grade teacher.

For some reason, he picked one kid as his whipping boy for the year and made his life miserable. Well, I was the lucky winner. I confirmed this with my brother because he said he did it to another kid when he had him.

I'll admit that I wasn't the best 6th grader. I was having problems at home and he was making things 10x worse. He would make me dance in front of the class if I acted out. He would read my answers to essay questions to the class if he thought they were stupid. One time he even showed the class my awful handwriting and asked if he should give me a zero because he had a hard time reading it. Of course the class agreed and he gave me a zero. The sounds of the entire class laughing at me cut me deep. Plus, the class thinks they have carte blanche to pick on you on the playground if the teacher gets to pick on you. Sixth grade was not fun for me.

I often wonder how sadistic a person must be to pick on little kids. How could they possibly enjoy it?

casino_night

"She gave students no space to develop..."

Mine was an old lady that led one of the first projects last schoolyear. I study Art Communication and Design and obviously every teacher has their own idea about what art or design is supposed to be, but this lady enforced her own views like facts. She gave students no space to develop their own concept and failed everyone who tried to stick to themselves. In addition to that she was also extremely rude to anyone who questioned or challenged her views. Luckily I never got on her bad side but I'm happy she retired.

mrtjvnck

"I have a certain disability..."

There was this one lady who was very picky about how our folders looked. I have a certain disability that influences my handwriting a lot and doesn't make it look as neat as the other girls. She regularly used the things I wrote, my folder, etc as a negative example even though I followed all of her criteria. It just happened to look crooked. I was being bullied a lot during that time and lost a lot of trust in my teachers because of her.

KittyMeowstika

"As of now..."

Our Italian teacher in elementary school. She scared us so much that now, in middle school, we're scared to answer questions because we might be wrong.

She would yell at us and sometimes belittle us if we got an answer wrong.. so people got scared of answering.. that also gave me a lot of anxiety when i needed to answer a question or do a test, i was a good student but i was hella scared that i would get one thing wrong and get yelled at, i hate being yelled at and it scared me a lot more back then...

We tried to tell our parents but they dismissed it as her being strict and us being too dramatic. Just now i realize we were not and that was definitely mental abuse..

As of now I'm trying to get more courage and answer questions, even if I'm not 110% they're right, but I'm scared that the first teacher that we have like that will make me scared again and i will lose all the progress i made this year... We have way better teachers in middle school now!

Coco_xo

"Last I heard..."

A middle school substitute teacher who constantly made kids cry and allegedly threw a stapler at a student's older sister once. Last I heard, she was somehow still subbing.

_KaseyRae

"He may not have been dramatically bad..."

An art professor at Hofstra University when i was there for one year. He was assigned to me as my teacher as part of a "package curriculum" for first year so I couldn't switch teachers or drop the class.

His class was meant as just teaching about different art styles and doing art projects that wouldn't be judged but would be encouraged to find the deeper meaning. However despite being required to have a neutral take, he was definitely a modern art snob who was pompous and a know-it-all and did judge others' art as bad or not.

He may not have been dramatically bad but I can confidently say my experience with him was the least fruitful.

Redeemer206

"Later that year..."

I had a teacher who was prone to anger attacks in the middle of class. He would scream at the class often, and on one occasion he even smashed a student's computer.

Later that year he was arrested for a case of animal abuse and was removed from teaching.

DankMemes420Gats

"I would often complain about..."

Mine was Señor Toro, my high school algebra teacher. I would often complain about how he taught class, in which he often contradicted himself or was plain wrong on a lot of concepts. My mother, who is a math major, still tells me to this day that he was a moron.

He also stank of coffee, which he drank constantly.

IcyNapalm

"It's tough to say which teacher was the worst one..."

It's tough to say which teacher was the worst one, because I've had so many lousy teachers.

When I was a senior in high school, my government teacher told another senior to ensure that he (the senior) didn't place his penis in the pencil sharpener. My teacher used to frequently say weird sexual comments. I told a guidance counselor about it, and then it stopped.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I took Algebra 2 and my teacher didn't know how to teach. She would do example problems and then give us worksheets - every day. She never explained the theory behind the math problems she was doing. She never looked up from the projector when she was writing notes. Frequently, my classmates would walk around the class, talk, and build stuff out of cardboard boxes in the class.

When I was in college, one of my professors called my dad once. That was bizarre, since it was illegal (due to FERPA) and most college professors have 0 desire to contact students' parents about the student's class performance. I still don't know how my professor got my dad's number. I reported my professor to his supervisor, but I don't know if he ever got disciplined.

Fleur498

"His name still lingers around the school..."

I had a religious studies teacher who was fairly strange. He would show up to class at least 10 minutes late and when he did he would always stare at the girls in my class. There were girls he would talk to in particular who he would always joke with and play around.

He was actually a very good teacher and we all got high grades in his class. One day during class he was no where to be seen so we all did our own thing because we had free time. A few days later we didn't see him still so we started to get worried until it was announced. The principal assembled us all into the cafeteria before lunch and announced why he was fired.

X_Chicken_Nuggets_X

"He told me and some of my friends..."

My 6th grade teacher. He told me and some of my friends that we would grow up to be homeless bums living on the street, thereby completely killing my self-confidence and motivation to succeed in school.

jacob_stephenson01

"So everyone who laughed..."

In 9th grade I had a miserable English teacher. She would always yell at me for doing nothing in particular. I never did anything wrong to her. One day she was leaning on the desk while teaching and it started creaking. She kept teaching then boom. The table leg bent in a way that made the whole table collapse with her on it.

Every one started laughing. Sure I smiled but I didn't start mocking her like the rest of the kids. Before she left the room I started fiddling with my hair because my hair tie broke. She eventually came back crying with the vice principal and started telling about how we almost killed her and how we laughed as if we planned it.

So everyone who laughed got suspended. I didn't laugh, sweet so I'm not getting suspended... so I thought. The quiet kids and the vice principals favorite students didn't get suspended but then she called my name. I was called to the office to be suspended. When I asked why, it was for "teasing the teacher with your hair." I failed to mention the English teacher is bald.. by her own choice. So I got suspended because I tried to fix my hair during a class while the teacher wasn't teaching.

X_Chicken_Nuggets_X

"I was doing great..."

I was doing great in chemistry in my first year got an A grade then the teacher left school as he moved to Germany. The next year I got a teacher who was primarily a graphic/textiles but because they studied chemistry at A level it made them qualified to teach it at GCSE. Did my mock paper for exams and got an F. She just wasn't great at explaining and rather chat with the popular girls. Ended up learning the textbook 2 weeks before the final exam and came out with a B grade.

nessac93

"Our Italian teacher..."

Our Italian teacher in elementary school. She scared us so much that now, in middle school, we're scared to answer questions because we might be wrong.

She would yell at us and sometimes belittle us if we got an answer wrong.. so people got scared of answering.. that also gave me a lot of anxiety when I needed to answer a question or do a test, I was a good student but I was hella scared that I would get one thing wrong and get yelled at, I hate being yelled at and it scared me a lot more back then...

We tried to tell our parents but they dismissed it as her being strict and us being too dramatic. Just now I realize we were not and that was definitely mental abuse.

As of now, I'm trying to get more courage and answer questions, even if I'm not 110% they're right, but I'm scared that the first teacher that we have like that will make me scared again and I will lose all the progress I made this year... We have way better teachers in middle school now!

Coco_Xo

"She was teaching..."

She was teaching ancient Greek and for some reason she didn't like anyone. She made around 100 children to give exams in summer to pass the class (I was one of them) she gave to everyone 6 out of 20 in grades. I almost needed to repeat the class.

NickFury24

"Of course there are some caveats..."

This is more in college:

I've had several, it all boils down to pushing a political agenda. Right, left, doesn't matter. Do what you're paid to do and teach the materials for the class. I don't care if you don't agree with me, I'm not here to hear you complain about the government, or sing its praises. If it is a discussion outside of class (or in some sort of political class) and the responses are thought out and educated then that would be fine. Teach the class, and that's it. Of course, there are some caveats, but I don't care what side you lean towards. Teach the class, that's it.

floppydoodie

Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?