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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder how school bullies feel as adults?

410 replies

NeonIcedcoffee · 20/11/2020 15:07

I'm just thinking about how people who were bullies at school feel about it as adults. I went to a really crappy comp which served a number of socially deprived areas. Bullying was absolutely rife. This included physical violence. There was also lots of general intimidation and taking of things from people.
I experience a bit of bullying but it was for a relatively short time. So I'm less thinking about personal experience or wanting closure for myself if that makes sense.

I left secondary school in 2003 for context. I'm not sure if bullying is less tolerated now?

Anyway somone who was really vile and an awful bully popped up on my people you may know on Facebook. She just looked normal now. It made me think do people who behave like this know they were bullies? Do they feel bad?

I'm not talking about the normal politics of friendships in teenage years. That obviously goes on all the time. We probably all behaved selfishly or unkindly as teenagers! I'm thinking of proper bullies here.

OP posts:
Rosee91 · 21/11/2020 19:56

@Mittens030869 thank you for response.

I think I’m going to talk to DH about it and see what he thinks. It’s a difficult decision as I do know it is the right thing to do, but having read some of the thread a few have said they didn’t appreciate it at all and it opened up old wounds, and that it was self indulgent which I completely understand.

AnotherNameForChristmas · 21/11/2020 20:22

Rosee91, I get where you are coming from. I was a bully, and was vile to two girls in particular in years 8 and 9. One I apologised to in year 11, the other I didn't get a chance to as she left the school.
It's a hard toss up- some people would appreciate the apology and some would absolutely hate the intrusion into their lives after so many years.

Remember, it's not about you (general you). They do not have to accept the apology. They do not owe you anything, and are well within their rights to respond in any way they see fit, if at all. Don't make any excuses or go into long detailed explanations to them. They don't need that.

Mittens030869 · 21/11/2020 20:29

That’s true, thinking about it. I had empathy for the girl who bullied me when I understood what she’d been through in losing her mum, but I didn’t hear it from her, I heard it from someone else. I might well have reacted differently if I’d heard it from her as part of an apology.

Offering this man an apology for what you put him through is right, but don’t make it sound as if you’re saying that your dysfunctional childhood justifies what you put him through. (I don’t think you think that at all, it’s about how it comes across.)

CatsArePeopleToo · 21/11/2020 20:30

I was not a bully but there were times when I was quite a bitch. I do feel ashamed as an adult. I should have known better.

Rosee91 · 21/11/2020 20:41

Thank you @Mittens030869 and @AnotherNameForChristmas

In an apology I wouldn’t say that I had a dysfunctional home life, as I don’t think that is relevant. Unless we had some kind of conversation. It would just be about saying sorry for the way I treated him, not why I did it.

I would probably word it as I don’t expect anything back, or a reply. And apologise for it being out of the blue. I’m worried that a receiving Facebook message like that would feel intrusive though.

I have researched it online and it does seem to be a mixed bag. He’s totally within his right to say I was a horrible bitch and tell me to fuck off with my apology. If that’s the case- we’re likely both going to be feeling worse.

Sally665 · 21/11/2020 20:53

@Rosee91

I am in my forties and if I got an apology from any of the group who bullied me almost thirty years it would be appreciated. Very, much actually.

You have to look at possible outcomes.

He's over it but he remembers it

He's not over it and he remembers it.

Those are the two only outcomes. Because he does remember it. In both of these situations an apology will help him.

You're worried he's buried it and in some sort of denial, and that you bringing it up will trigger him? If that's the case he will be triggered all the time, every time he meets someone with your name, every time a bullying storyline is shown on a programme he watches....

You might not get forgiveness. You might not even get a response, and you might get a nasty response. But, in my opinion. An apology is warranted and should be offered with no caveat, just simple and straightforward. "I remember how I treated you in school . I am so sorry. You didn't deserve it and I was wrong to do it."

Don't ask for forgiveness. Leave the door open for a response. If he is nasty back to you, you gave him the opportunity to do that and vent and just leave it at that.... Don't respond again, don't try to make him feel bad for reacting like that. And just let it go. You did all you could do now. You can't change the past.

PaddyF0dder · 21/11/2020 20:55

@Rosee91

Get in contact and apologise. Don’t offer excuses or explanations. Just own it and apologise.

And don’t expect forgiveness or kindness from them. Expect scorn. And own that too.

hardknocklife123 · 21/11/2020 21:09

I find this very interesting. My daughter went to an all girls fee paying school. She joined a group of girls who bullied another girl relentlessly. The girls crime was to have a dog and a little baby sister and an older brother - the other girls were jealous. My daughter chose to go to another school for sixth form to break free from this group. The ring leader is now training to be a doctor - the mother is a mental health advocate. I often wonder what they think.

Tulipshoots · 21/11/2020 21:23

One of the biggest bullies I know is a social worker- it’s frightening.

20mum · 21/11/2020 21:25

I noted how a lovely woman running a backpacker hostel was frequently helping and having a comforting chat with one or other of the customers and staff. One day I asked her about her constant 'damp shoulder to weep on'. She explained she had been a horrible bully, always able to hone in on a victim's most sensitive weakness so she knew exactly what to say to make the most destructive wounds.

One day for no reason she suddenly decided to renounce bullying and started to use the same power, but for good. Somehow, talking of this or that to someone, she would detect a vulnerable sore spot, then use her special skill to get straight into whatever was hurting the person, and to say the most ideal healing words to fix it.

Sally665 · 21/11/2020 21:34

I worked in social work for over ten years in three different teams. Two of them were fantastic. One was awful. Rife with bullying. It was so disappointing. And the team had a terrible retention rate (Not surprisingly.) Just like in care homes , you can get horribly abusive members of staff.... Some people go into these professions because they like the element of control over others life's. Made me much nicer to my kids when I realised that....

Grapewrath · 21/11/2020 21:38

I don’t know, people grow up and mature. Their lives change. They might have fleeting times of thinking about how they should’ve been nicer at school but I dare say they had stuff going on to bd so unhappy themselves.
There is also perspective- a school friend of mine hates another because she claims she was a ‘bully’ at school but I knew them both well and the ‘victim’ didn’t have a lot of time for the ‘bully’ and was really jealous that she was pretty hand popular. I don’t remember any bullying at all but my friend remembers it very differently
I had a friend who clearly moved in at high school and because I didn’t know many people, she was awful to me and made me feel shit. I doubt she even thinks about it, I don’t really either.

hotpotlover · 21/11/2020 21:52

@lyralalala

So sorry you had to go through this.

Surely they should have been arrested after pinning you down and threatening to rape you.

Dumakey · 21/11/2020 22:08

This thread makes me really sad.

I was bullied at school too. I can remember dreading going to bed at night because it meant going to sleep, and when I woke up, it meant going to school. It lasted for about 2 years, at Secondary school.

But that is where I left it, at school.

I cant imagine 30 years or so later still being so bitter and angry about it. It was a different time and my life has moved on.

paddyclampitt · 21/11/2020 22:33

I wasn't a bully but there were plenty of people at school that I didn't treat very nicely. I wish I could turn back the clock as I regret it now

lyralalala · 21/11/2020 22:53

[quote hotpotlover]@lyralalala

So sorry you had to go through this.

Surely they should have been arrested after pinning you down and threatening to rape you.

[/quote]
You'd think so, but because it was girls threatening to get boys (who were watching) to rape me I apparently was in no danger of being raped and therefore it was just something that got out of hand.

And becase my jaw was broken by a swinging bag that three of them, and several of their friends, said was accidental there was no proof to back my assertion that it was deliberate.

Police and school decided mediation was the best option. Tbh I'm fairly certain that the police looked at backgrounds - them: stable families, parents with good jobs vs me: alcoholic drug addict parents so being brought up by GPs - and decided they were more credible than me.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 21/11/2020 23:09

I was bullied quite a bit from when I was a teenager onwards. I was academic and quiet, which made me a target at school, and I also had a pony - some of the staff at the yard where I had my pony were absolutely awful because they were jealous. It’s not like I had expensive things, or a top-flight horse, but clearly I had what they couldn’t and they turned to spite. In both situations, I’ve come across the people involved as adults and they’re unhappy people living not very nice lives. I feel sorry for them but I don’t think for one moment they’ve ever considered the effect on a girl who was painfully shy and who had very little self esteem to start with.

On the flip side, I was briefly not very nice to a girl in my circle at school. I was maybe 13 or 14. I remember her crying and I felt terrible about it for years - I’d been on the receiving end of so much similar behaviour so how on earth could I have meted that out to someone else? In hindsight, I was deeply unhappy and I lashed out at her.

About 10 years ago I met up with her and apologised. Thankfully she didn’t remember it but I felt immensely grateful for having had the chance to say sorry.

Rangoon · 22/11/2020 02:16

I was skinny, flatchested, with a tendency to enormous spots, lots of freckles, buck teeth, with very short hair, and a mother that refused to let me shave my legs "because once you start you can't stop". I had near black hair and took after my father's very hirsute family. I was also a swot with glasses and my clothes sense was awful. The bullying was horrible with lots of my form joining in and went on for years. I was too embarased to tell my parents and the school did nothing.

After getting myslf to an orthodontist, dermatologist and hairdresser, getting contact lenses, reading a pile of books on fashion and discovering waxing I was stunned to arrive at university and be considered very attractive. I still remember the chap who dropped a pile of books to run after me! It did make me aware of how superficial people are. The good news is that I've had a great very well paid career, married for nearly 30 years to a man who still brings me coffee in bed every morning, have a very nice house in an expensive leafy suburb and can't even remember the bullies' names. I ended up in a career where a certain degree of mental toughness is required and I certainly had that. I moved cities in my twenties but I assume that none of them amounted to much.

TalkingToMyselfAndFeelingOld · 22/11/2020 02:17

How do I feel?

Regretful and ashamed.

I try not to think about it.

If I were to apologise i would worry it might stir up unpleasant memories for those I harmed.

I was a shy awkward child, not good at games or socialising with people. I kept to myself and was obsessive about my own interests but not really interested in many of the same things the other girls were..I had an unhappy home life but nobody would have had any idea about it because I wasn't poor or covered in bruises. I didn't have the words to describe what home was like because i t was the way it was and didn't know anything else than being scared of my dad's moods. I also struggled with certain school subjects and thing either children could do more easily but I could read very well and excelled at anything literary.
and since primary achool , other kids would exclude me, taunt me, make up nasty stories about me, cal me names. I ended up feeli mg defective, shameful , and like I was just an ugly mess. I was shouted a and punished at home, my dad had terrifying mood swings and my teachers shouted at me..

It was all low level stuf f.but it mAde me feel.worthless and angry 'll the time...and then in top gear at primary so boys and another girl pushed me to the ground and pinned me.down so they could take my clothes off, well my akirt.and underwear, and look at my body.

I felt.dirty all over.again, and stupid....around that time I had started hitting other kids when they made hurtful comments to me. Sadly.I started occasionally hitting my friends even if they gently teased me. Even friendly teasing I couldn't handle I was very sensitive and self pitying. Oh I could.give myself a slap looking back , for being so uptight about everything. My parents were very religious and used to tell me I had a big ego which was why I hurt so easily over minor things. If my dad called me fat and mocked me, which he did a lot, I would self harm by cutting or scratching.

At secondary school a couple of girls started bullying me and I lashed out one day during a hockey lesson at school. Hitting her ankle with my stick. a few days later she was diagnosed with blood clot .

I used to do weird things like after an incident of bullying, I would make things worse for myself . I started bullying other girls so I would be hated even more and punished...I don't know why because I hated being bullied but I didn't like myself either and I think I was trying to make other kids and also teachers feel.sorry for me b y setting myself up as a victim. Like I used to pretend to steal things so I would get told off and also then I would cry.and hope they'd feel sorry for me

I hated myself but at same time I wanted others to take care of me...and give me lots of attention but also see I'd been wronged. I didn't have high self esteem but I had some need to be vindicated and seen as a victim by other a

to this day when I meet others I don't expect them to like me. Ao!stones the bullies would pretend to be nice to me then they'd do something nasty so I never knew when to trust people or not... I am quite socially anxious by nature and struggle with feeling others are whispering about me and talking about me or judging me.

In my 20s I had been struggling with my mental health and was eventually diagnosed with a personality.disorder one of the symptoms was emotional dysregulation. I wasn't really helped much at the time just given high dosees of meds. I was also battling an illness I had had for some t ime physically and was gaining weight and had awful PMS. lATEr on, is be diagnosed with PCO S. My friend had for years been a good friend to me, sticking by me even though I was a bit of a birch to her at times and one day we had a massive.row...She was saying about how I was feeling sorry for myself and depressed all the time but my parents were so nice to me and I was so lucky.I just lost it with her. Started telling her how my father is verbally and emotionally abusive and had been violent with us in the past. She said she didn't think I was telling the truth because my dad always was nice when she was there. She said in was making up my health issues, something which she had told me before. I intended to slap her face but missed and ended up pus hing her into the road, she much smaller than me. so yeah that friendship ended because o f my self pity and nasty temper

So I do have a lot of shame when I look at how badly I treated people.

I know the bullying I went through still affects me to this day...I feel unsafe around most people.and just dirt. So I am guessing my victims felt the same.and may be still do

sorry this is badly written. I am a rubbish typist

I did get my karma though. I am now on disability and a size 26. My victims have grown up to have good careers and families. So in a way, justice has been served

Maybe they will never get over what one is to them...but they can look at their lives and know they have succeeded in spite of me being horrible

The girl I pushed into the road was so pretty but had quite bad acne for which she took medication. We went to a youth camp thimg, a christian thing, and one day she moved some of my clothes from our shared drawe r and I don't like when people rearrange my things , it feels chaotic to me, and I shouted at her, slammed the drawer in her hand and called her a spotty.little bitch

After that big row.we had years later she wrote to me and told me others had told her she needed to dump me but she said she hadn't the courage to do it until now. She said we had always had a destructive relationship, which amazed me because although I knew I was nasty to her, she never did dump !e until then so I didn't see our relationship as abusive. When I thought of abusive relationships I think of people like my parents. Violence and verbal abuse, my mother scared to leave and not being allowed to anyone because of their faith....why do I mention this? Because I didn't see myself
f.aS a bully. I felt like a monster and would cut myaelf.after.being nasty but I didn't see myself as an abuser. I wasn't a queen b sort of person with high self esteem or good looks.. I always saw myself as the under dog..

so sometimes I think we former bullies do lack empathy and insight. As a child in was shy and sensitive , cares about animals.but somewhere along the line I lost that sensitivity. My parents used to say it is because I have PCOS and therefore that makes me aggressive

TalkingToMyselfAndFeelingOld · 22/11/2020 02:22

Oh and as a teenager I was mildly sexually assaulted by a stranger. I really played up my "I am a.victim feel sorry for me" game and was always saying my issues in life we because of been sexually abused. In reality it was nothing. I wasn't damaged by it.. I didn't fight him off, I just froze, hoping if I did nothi mg he would stop. It didn't scar me but I decided to milk.it as much as possible. I mean I didn't consciously decide that but I was certainly treating it a serious and traumatic when it realy.wasn't that bad.

It wasn't until years later I learned that this kind of manipulativeness and attention seeking could be a kind of bullying. so that was something I had to work through too

Shortsinwinter · 22/11/2020 03:57

I had a rough time at school. Small town & my older sister has cerebral palsy everyone knew our family and it made us an easy target. The leader of the worst group of girls is now married to my ex brother in law. We got into it one night over a bottle of wine and she apologised and said she never really stopped to think about what she was doing. Since I lost my mum she now helps me care for my sister, stops in to have a cuppa with her most days and skypes her most evenings. She really is one of my closest friends and was a huge support to me when my marriage ended.

TalkingToMyselfAndFeelingOld · 22/11/2020 04:10

@Shortsinwinter

I had a rough time at school. Small town & my older sister has cerebral palsy everyone knew our family and it made us an easy target. The leader of the worst group of girls is now married to my ex brother in law. We got into it one night over a bottle of wine and she apologised and said she never really stopped to think about what she was doing. Since I lost my mum she now helps me care for my sister, stops in to have a cuppa with her most days and skypes her most evenings. She really is one of my closest friends and was a huge support to me when my marriage ended.
I think some bullies can definitely change. I like to think I have although time will tell.

I read somewhere that our braIns don't _finish developing until age 25. I wonder if some of us who were bullies were.simply late.starters? Not an excuse . But maybe an explanation?

Yes we.didn't think about what.we.were.doing. I know all I saw was my own pain and my brain was stuck in fight or flight mode anyway

I think impulsivity and being stuck in fight or flight mode could be big risk factors as to why some bullied children to on to beco!e bullies and others don't

Ineedaduvetday · 22/11/2020 07:19

People who have owned up to bullying on this thread strike me as far more self aware and self critical than people making sweeping statements and hoping for bad things for people.

HmmHmmHmm

KatherineJaneway · 22/11/2020 07:33

I cant imagine 30 years or so later still being so bitter and angry about it. It was a different time and my life has moved on.

30 years on I am still bitter and angry because I still live with the damage the bullies did to me.

Paranoidmarvin · 22/11/2020 07:45

I was bullied by my entire class. It was a small small school. There were eight of us. They even threw basketballs at my head. My parents did nothing.

A few years ago the main person in the class friended me on Facebook. Made me feel sick enough to actually throw up.

Acted as if we were friends. She rallied the entire class behind her. High school for me was awful. And she remembered none of it.

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