Bullies suck.
They all eventually grow up, but that doesn’t mean that they all stop being bullies – though some of certainly them do.
Meeting your childhood bully rarely goes like in the movies or that short story that was actually too long to be a short story, you know that one you wrote/read in your sophomore year of college that was totally just a rip-off of Pearl Jam’s Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town.
Anyhow, here are 13 folks who stumbled onto their old bullies years later and reported the mixed results on AskReddit:
13. Never rely on the kindness of your old nemesis.
Even though I am a college graduate, I decided to go to truck driving school for a CDL. It seemed like the perfect job for an introvert; just driving around, listening to podcasts all day.
One of my bullies in high school dropped out so he could work for his father’s truck driving business. I figured since he knew me, I’d have an advantage over all the other applicants.
Bad idea.
My bully used the interview to lord it all over the valedictorian who was now relying upon the kindness of the dropout for a job.
“You sure you’re man enough to handle a 40 ton eighteen wheeler?”
Then he lectured me on the importance of customer service. “The business owners we deliver to like to bullsh*t with the drivers but you wouldn’t even say ‘sh*t’ in high school.”
I was also notorious for napping in class back in the day. “If you couldn’t keep your head up for fifteen minutes in class, how can I trust you behind the wheel for ten hours?”
12. “It felt really good.”
I was bullied by this mean girl all through elementary and middle school. Senior year of high school we had a mutual friend and were sitting at the same lunch table. I had just broken up with my boyfriend of 2.5 years and she asked me about it. She then told me that I was too good for him and he didn’t deserve me.
It felt really good. No animosity towards her ever again.
11. The really sad one.
Mine’s kinda sad. I was bullied by this kid in high school pretty often. I was small, he was big, and in his mind that was all it took to mean I was worth tormenting.
Flash forward to two years ago: It’s ten years later.
I’m successful, independent, healthy and happy. I’m working in my hometown’s ER now. We get a patient found down out in the bushes, and I’m asked to see him. It’s this dude. He’s looking kinda rough, puked on himself, covered in leaves, but still huge.
I don’t miss a beat. Vitals, line, labs, fluids, everything you would do given the situation. Hours later he’s sobering up, we’re talking about his situation and he stops and just stares at me mid-sentence.
“Oh, I remember you now.”
Cue me thinking, “Great, thought we weren’t gonna bring this up.”
But then he went on, “Man I am so sorry for how I treated you in high school. I was a horrible person, there is no excuse. But I really want you to know I regret who I was and I’m not that person anymore.”
Well, my jaw basically hit the floor. It gave me a lot of hope for people to change. I’m glad he had a chance to, but his alcohol addiction was probably now covering the same pains that caused him to be such a broken person a decade before.
Three months later he came in again as my patient, this time because he choked on his own vomit. He never woke up.