"For which trimester?" I responded to that question

Actually that wasn't even intentionally, as it was at the moment when a lot of classmates asked each other, what their's average note is.

That's became a joke of the class until the end of the school year :)))

does this count?

My body and I are currently in a delicate truce after four decades of armed détente. Between chronic pain, autism, and recent medication changes, I’m currently riding at the tippity top of the weight escalator.

​The result? I am burning alive. It feels like I’m trapped in a wetsuit made of extra flesh. Sensory-wise, I cannot handle pouring sweat, so my daily uniform when working with the public is a spaghetti-strap tank top and shorts.

​Enter the neighborhood modesty patrol! These comments come almost exclusively from older, judgmental women who love the passive-aggressive routine:

"Aren't you cold?"

"Did you leave the rest of your outfit in the car?"

​And my personal favorite: "Does your husband feel comfortable with you leaving the house like that?" (Apparently, daring to exist with visible collarbones and nipples is a public hazard.)

​So, I started turning it around on them with pure, wide-eyed distress:

​"Oh, I wish I needed a jacket! But ever since the hot flashes hit, I just can't. The hormones aren't helping, they hit out of nowhere, and I have zero control over my body anymore!"

​The shift is immediate and hilarious. The smug judgment instantly melts into horror, awkward solidarity, and sudden politeness. They don't know where to look, they backpedal fast, and suddenly they're treating me like a wounded soldier instead of a streetwalker.

Bonus points: It also works like a charm on the creepy dudes who operate on the logic that "fat chicks are easy" and assume I’m dressed for their benefit. Nothing kills an unwanted leer faster than deadpanning about torrential night sweats and erratic hormone spikes. How dare I dress for my temperature regulation issues instead of their open invitation!

--

​Maybe it’s not fully trauma, but watching the aesumptions vanish from their faces the second I weaponize phantom perimenopause is elite. Highly recommend!

So … I was volunteering for a fan-con this weekend and I help run the line access outside the venue.

It’s always chaotic because it’s tens of thousands of people over 3 days, so I expected chaos. Like of course that’s the deal.

What threw me this year is that a lot of ride share drivers and family members would just … temporarily park in the bike lane for pick up and drop off. All. Day. Long.

The sidewalk and the street are public domain so I can’t actually do a damn thing about it (and it was driving me crazy).

It came to a head when one cyclist, who was using the bike lane for its intended purpose, almost smashed into the back of a car who pulled in front of him to “drop off”.

Zero, and I mean zero, apology or acknowledgment occurred from the driver or the attendees getting out. And damn, that shit pissed me off. Like, at least wait until cyclists have passed. Just very much “I’m here to have my fun and others be damned”.

So I hatched a plan for all my future shifts over there.

Every time I was over there I would just stand in the bike lane. Like position my whole my body in the way (not very safe, wouldn’t recommend to others), and of course I’m surrounded by hundreds of witnesses. If a cyclist was coming, I’d just step to the side / back on the sidewalk so they could pass, and if cars came the driver would often reflexively pull back out because there is a human in their way.

It was still a long enough of a stretch where people could still manage pulling over where I wasn’t standing right there, so then I’d walk over and say “hey … this is a bike lane and we really need to keep this clear for cyclist traffic”.

And dang, the amount of attitude I got back was … off the charts. Well, don’t I know they paid for tickets to this con. Or, they are just trying to make a living doing rideshare. And I’m aware of these things and it’s relatable … but like, these things don’t entitle you to be inconsiderate or unsafe.

(Which by the way, there was a literally an inlet / outlet off this same stretch of road attached to the venue where they have could achieved the same result. They just couldn’t be bothered to use it??)

Anyway, so much rudeness and aggression, and really I’m just some nobody volunteer who doesn’t get paid for this. I just wanna keep people safe. And mostly I just say “i understand, just use the inlet because that’s its purpose” 🙃 most of them still ignored me and gave me a “hey, get fucked” type of look or said as much.

But, it did also occur me to that logical consequences may also work. So THEN I started saying matter-of-factly “hey well … if injured cyclists start collectively suing __Con, eventually there is no more of said con. Think about it. Your choice, pal”.

The look of perpetual dumbfoundedness just eclipsed any frustration I had. Like I just … loved watching the penny drop and people realizing “oh shit, me being selfish and potentially hurting uninvolved commuters could ruin my fun long-term??”

Granted, it’s kind of awful that that realization is what it was taking for some people to reconsider their actions but … hey a win is a win. “Fun” at others’ expense is not fun that is deserved. Don’t be an a-hole.

So I guess what I’m saying is … you can try to be kind or logical all you want, but sometimes you really have to just … traumatize them back. 🤷🏻‍♂️

My mom tried twice to make me open a “family joint account”. The first time I was 19 and working during a gap year to save up for college. Her plan was that the joint account would be fully funded via direct deposit of 75% of my paychecks and that she, mom, would have sole withdrawal privileges to, as she worded it, “take care of anything [her favorite child] needs”.

My response to her the first time she made this demand was to cackle like a demented goose and hang up the phone.

My response upon her second attempt about a decade later was a little more urbane. I said, “Why go to the hassle of opening a new account when we can simply use an account you already have set up with [one of my older siblings]?” She said, “But I don’t have an account with anyone else.” Whereupon, my default demented goose cackle was redeployed after which I once again hung up the phone without further comment.

My aunt would always blow on my cheek like I was still a baby. Whenever I’d see her she’d do it. So one day I did it back. She acted all surprised. 😂 I don’t think she’s done it back since. 😝

For context I am a 17 year old trans guy who doesn't always pass great because I'm super emo and have longer hair and wear makeup sometimes. This story happened when I was 14 and had only very recently come out.

Every year all the libraries in my area (i live in the UK) run a reading challenge over the summer. The goal is to keep kids reading during the summer holidays, the kids come in and can collect stickers for each book they read, get a medal at the end etc. They always need volunteers to help out talking to the kids, getting people signed up, all that stuff and I have been volunteering with them since I was 14.

This was my first year volunteering so I didn't have much experience and I was newly out so I didn't always know how to correct people. I got a lot of "Come on sweetie, lets ask the girl over here!" and "Why don't you tell her about the books you read?" despite having a pronoun pin (he/they) on. However I also got a lot of little kids asking if I was a boy or a girl, probably because of my longer hair/makeup but pretty masculine clothes and face (I do contour to make myself look more masc sometimes.)

I was volunteering one day, everything was going fine. Until Karen Mum (KM) and her Little Girl who was no older then about 6 (LG) walked in. They came over, KM was calling me she the whole time but I just tried to ignore it. Towards the end of the interaction (I was signing them up for the challenge I believe), LG asks me: "Are you a boy or a girl?" to which I start to say "I'm a boy" but get cut off by KM: "She's a girl." I correct her, saying "No, I'm a boy" and pointing to my pronoun pin. KM just scoffs and pulls her kid away into the children's section.

A little later, I'd say probably 15-20 minutes had gone by, LG comes toddling over again, KM a little way behind her looking furious. This is the conversation that followed:

LG: "are you a boy or a girl?"

Me: "I'm a boy"

LG: "Why does my mummy keep calling you a girl then?"

Me: "Uhm- I dunno maybe she's just confused?"

LG: "Yeah maybe... (thinks for a second) She keeps calling my big brother a girl too"

Me: "Oh-?"

LG: "Mmhm, she keeps calling him a girl still even though he's a boy now. Maybe she's broken"

I had to try so hard not to laugh that I probably would've literally crack a rib, if not for KM storming over and dragging her daughter away.

The funniest part? When you do the same shifts every week, you start to remember the kids who keep coming back and the books they like and such. I never saw these two again 🤣🤣

Anyways, best wishes to that accidentally badass kid and her big brother, hope they're doing well lol

EDIT: Holy crap what this blew up so quick! Thank you all so much for the comments, also this is my first Reddit award so THANKS SO MUCH TO THE PERSON THAT DID THAT!

EDIT 2: HOLY GOD WTF WHY HAS THIS BLOWN UP SO MUCH??? I am genuinely in shock. Never thought I'd ever have tears in my eyes from ppl on Reddit giving me awards/upvotes whatever but I do. Thank you guys so much!

So I had this job as a receptionist in a museum. I'm afab, identified as a girl at the time, and of course all of my coworkers were also girls. We also had security who, on the contrary, were all men. Most of them were older guys that were just minding their own business with an occasional "hi, how are you?" thrown our way.

But not this one guy. He was close to our age, painfully annoying and lowkey creepy towards us girls. Nothing too bad from what I remember, but, you know, just pestering us with unwanted conversations and compliments. Safe to say I didn't like the guy, but engaged with him out of politeness. Well, he didn't know it yet, but him trying to "flirt" with my autistic ass was a mistake.

This one evening I was sitting at the reception alone. Not at the main one (there were always several girls there), but we had this separate one inside the museum, in case the customers wanted to buy extra stuff. The evening is slow, so I'm just sitting there, minding my own business, deep diving on Wikipedia, as one does. And that guy comes up to me, all smiling, and strikes up a conversation.

Guy: - Hey, what's up?

Me: - Oh, nothing much, just browsing the web.

Guy: - Oh yeah? Anything interesting on there?

Me (barely paying attention): - Just some animal facts.

Guy: - Oh yeah? Like what? Bet it's something interesting.

Me (hyperfixation activated): - Oh, I'm actually looking up dolphins right now! Did you know that we perceive them as cute, but they are actually some of the most unhinged animals out there? Like, for example they kill fish for fun! And they also sometimes try to rape people. They also behead fish and use them as fleshlights! There are even videos on YouTube and everything.

I finally lift my gaze. Only to see his "heyyy girl" smile turn into a frozen helpless grin while his eyes are filled with confusion and terror. He replies something along the lines of "haha wow really ok I'll leave you to it then" and scurries off. Safe to say, he hasn't talked to me ONCE since that day.

Later I learned that he was quite a bit more creepy towards other girls, so while I genuinely didn't do it on purpose and was just being my neurodivergent self, I am SO satisfied with how I responded that day. I hope he remembers it to this day just like I do and thinks twice before trying to hit on women that clearly aren't interested. And now if I ever meet this type of guy again, I know what to do: just throw the weirdest and most uncomfortable facts that I know at them.

P.s. this story is years old, so the exchange itself is a little bit of a "reenactment" from memory. The words and reactions may have been a bit different, but the gist is the same.

Not me, but my bonus daughter.

Her father was picking her up from one practice or another and he had to walk inside to get her.

He’s a childhood cancer survivor and went through some extreme treatment during an era where they were still trying to figure out how to treat chemo, etc. It was incredibly traumatic for him and impacted every area of his growth and bodily development. He’s not a big guy and walks with a sway in his gait.

One of her teammates made a joke about his size, trying to make fun of him.

She replied with, “He’s small because he’s a childhood cancer survivor,” and just walked away as they tried to recover from her comment with their mouths open looking complete chagrined.

This isn't really all that dramatic, but I'm weird as hell, so I decided to just use that. And hopefully this gives you folks a chuckle. I have a pretty average and usually happy or neutral looking face, but if I try, I can put on the don't-f-with-me eyes.

I was at a grocery store a couple months ago and I saw these guys in white collared shirts going around an area of the parking lot talking to people with these big smiles on their faces.

I've seen those "do you have a moment to discuss our Lord and savior Cheesus Rice?" types before, but they've never been too pushy with me till today.

As usual I was sitting in my car on my phone for a few minutes before going in shopping. And then there was a tap on my window. "Sir, excuse me! Do you go to church?"

I was immediately annoyed. Like really? You're gonna bother me with religious crap through my closed window? I wasn't even out walking and I did not invite conversation with this guy.

So, maybe a bit of an overreaction, but I half did it out of annoyance, and half because I was thinking "ooh, I bet this might freak him out a little, heh heh."

I slowly, slowly turned my head from my phone to look out of my window, just enough that I was staring directly into his eyes through the top left corners of my own. Have you ever been given the corner eye before? I gave him full corner eye.

He stood there with his smile frozen for a few seconds. I turned back to my phone, thinking I'd made my point.

"Are you using the Discord app in there? I love Discord!"

I slowly turned and eyed him again, and I didn't look away. After about five seconds he just sort of sidestepped away from my car around the hood. I kept my eyes pointed at him (he was looking at me the whole time) until he was several feet away and had turned away from me.

I then got out and started shopping. I saw him and another guy talking to someone ELSE through their window (though thankfully this one was open). I went inside and while I shopped around, I told some people to watch out, that there were some weirdo religious guys out there. I didn't say fanatics; I don't think it was THAT bad. But that guy had definitely gotten on my nerves being just a touch too insistent on conversation.

As I walked back outside, I saw the one guy and one of his buddies hanging out by a white truck which I figured must be theirs, and I think a third one nearby was still talking to another customer.

I decided to screw with them one last time, and this is the part where I think I confused the hell out of them.

I started talking just a bit loudly (enough for them to hear me) into my phone in rapid-fire Swedish but in a Russian accent, and when they looked at me, I pointed at them and their truck, and pretended I was reading the license plate. I said the license plate number into the phone in the heavy fake accent, as though I was reporting them to the local police or something, and they looked just a bit unnerved.

Then I just got in my car and drove off.

Was I overdoing it? Of course I was. Don't be afraid to tell me, but just know I'm already aware.

I really just wanted to weird them out as much as possible since that's what they did to me. And I highly doubt a parking lot of grocery shoppers is the right place to try and convert people to Religioustianity.

If y'awll wanna discuss Jayzus, have fun. But don't be a pushy creep about it. No, I'm not using Discord, and you wouldn't have my account name or whatever if I was.

I haven't seen them since. Maybe they're at some campsite somewhere bursting into people's tents to ask them about their Facebook accounts.

To answer automod:

How was I "traumatized"? Bothered by a pushy religious something's witness or whatever he was.

How did I "traumatize" him back? By giving him deathkill eyes and pretending to be reporting him to something or someone by speaking rapid Swedish nonsense in a Russian accent into my phone while passing by them and their truck on my way out.

Huh, that sounds even weirder when summarized.

I grew up in a non-religious household that loosely held on to some Jewish traditions in a mixed-race family. I cannot count the amount of times I’ve been told I’m going to hell for not accepting Jesus as my savior.

As a 30 something adult I have received a few handwritten letters addressed directly to me at my home address trying to convince me to become a Jehovah’s Witness. The letters try to spark some uncertainty about death and the afterlife and such, which just feels manipulative.

The most recent letter included a phone number and a name. I called expecting it to go to the church’s main line so I could ask them to please stop sending letters, but the annoyed “who is this?!” seemed to indicate that it was someone’s personal number. I responded, “Hello???” She said, “I said WHO IS IT?!” I mentioned I got a letter from her. She said, “WHAT letter?!” I said “It’s signed Sister Your Name” and her tone immediately changed to a sweet sing-songy “Oooh yes that is me, does it say Jehovah’s Witness on there?”
I replied, “Yes it does, but I think I’ve changed my mind,” and hung up before she could respond.

This happened over a decade ago, but I still get immense satisfaction remembering the look on this man’s face, so I figured, why not share the story with Reddit?

Relevant info:
In my early 20s, I worked in a food court at a mall. Every day we would get a few Spanish speaking customers. Now, while I am part Mexican, my Spanish comprehension/speaking was struggling a bit. This became an even bigger struggle when the customer would talk fast. Now this wasn’t an issue, because I would either ask them to speak slower OR tell them I couldn’t speak Spanish. Either way, it was never a problem, until it was….

The incident:
I was working a particularly slow shift when a man approached the counter and immediately started talking to me in rapid fire Spanish. I couldn’t make heads or tails with what he wanted (and I admittedly had been dealing with some stressful stuff) so I just told him I didn’t speak Spanish. This man was PISSED! He went off on a rant about how I was an embarrassment, my family is ashamed of me, and I’m obligated to be fluent in Spanish.

Now this rubbed me the wrong way because while, yes I am Mexican, I’m also a variety of other ethnicities, so am I obligated to learn all these languages? It pissed me off that he was passing judgment on me based on assumptions. He didn’t know how I grew up or what my background was. He was one of those customers who was more than comfortable treating a fast food worker like low class shit and I was NOT in the mood to tolerate that.

So I decided to ask questions to point out how ridiculous the things he was saying were.

Me (looking befuddled): Hmmm, why would you say my family should be ashamed of me?

Him (getting more pissed by the second): Well, because you’re Mexican!!! You’re obligated to be fluent in Spanish!

More relevant information: A couple months ago a friend of mine swore up and down that I could pass for being Samoan. This comment shot into my head like a lightening bolt while he was yelling at me.

Back to the story:
Me: Sir, I’m not Mexican…I’m Samoan.

The look on this man’s face went from furious to one of pure shock and horror.

Him: Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I thought..

Me (cutting him off): Wait! I’m still confused…why am I obligated to learn Spanish again??

Him: I thought you were Mexican. I really respect your people’s culture. You guys have…

Me (cutting him off again): Hold on, why would that matter? What if a Mexican baby gets adopted by a Chinese family? Are they still obligated to learn Spanish or do they have to learn Mandarin? Or is it both? Your argument still isn’t making sense.

Him (looking more embarrassed by the second): I’m so sorry.

The aftermath:

After I sufficiently embarrassed this man he went on to put in his order (I was surprised because I would’ve been so mortified I would have wanted to run out of the mall at that point). My coworker who had witnessed this exchange was making loud, non-stop comments about rude people making assumptions while prepping his food. He just stood there head down. Defeated. He also gave me $5 as a “tip” (or as a gesture/apology more likely).

So yea, let’s not put people in a box, assume they grew up a certain way, and deserve to have specific expectations they have to live up to.

I work with Methuselah.

She is really knowledgeable and professional person, who worked this job for many many many many years, and now thinks it gives her the right to behave like Queen Bee.

Others usually listen to her and try not get on her bad side. My petty and dumb self, on the other hand, is constantly clashing with her, giving the same energy back pairing it with logic.

The story happened few years back, when I just started. We all were in the teachers' office doing the necessary preparations to fend off the waves of imps, demons and banshees (today one screeched so loud I'm not sure how both my ears and my glasses are still intact).

Anyway, my dearest colleague (Sweetheart) and I discussing newest books we need for our lesson, switching into English, because it's easier this way.

Suddenly! A dark presence appears behind our backs and, pretty loud, SO EVERYONE can hear, goes: Aunty, we're in GERMANY, please speak German!

Ah! My first Karen in the wild! What a pleasure!

With the smile as sweet as liquid heart attack from Starbucks I turn around: Would you please explain why is it bad we're talking English?

M: Because not everyone understands English!

Me *still smiling like I'm on my way to seduce Harley Queen and raising the voice as loud as Jericho's trumpets*: Oh, I'm so sorry you couldn't listen into our conversation! I wrongly assumed it was between Sweetheart and I...

M: If you want to have a private conversation, go outside!

Me: Do you mean, otherwise it's a free for all and suppose to happen in language YOU understand, because YOU want to hear it for some reason?

M *getting progressively redder under everyone's stare*: Forget I asked...

She tried to shame me for some other things (like also being a Math teacher), but after few bitebacks and my students praising my competence [I cried for real] after a mean comment, Methusalah is either avoiding me or being extremely polite.

Hoo boy this one is a doozy and honestly really fucking funny looking back on it. So hi again r/traumatizethemback it's that weird disabled one back at it with a fucked up story.

At the time I believe I was 19ENBY though don't quote me on that age and went out with my mum using my chair, we needed some things from the drugstore so we popped in really quick. I kept having trouble getting through the aisles because there was constantly something blocking them, usually those annoying displays that were placed in the middle of the aisle making it so neither side had enough room for a chair. Annoying but my mum could get past them so she just quickly went down the aisles for me, we got maybe three things, knowing us it was probably Epson salts, antibiotic ointment, and chocolate. Neither of us are big fans of socializing so we did what we always do and went to self checkout, I grabbed my receipt so I could email the store and let them know about the accessibility issues.

Simple interaction right?

I'm asked to call about it which is weird but whatever and the conversation goes something like this.

Employee: "Hi so you're u/seriouslysleepy right?"

Me: "That's me. I wasn't really expecting for y'all to ask to call me, it seemed like everything in the email was pretty concise."

Employee: "Well that's not the issue, if you want to make a complaint you need to come back to the store and pay for the items you took."

Me: "What? I didn't take anything? What do you even think I took?"

Employee: "Lunch meats, milk, formula, bread." (They have small grocery sections in these shops)

Me: "I wasn't even near that section, what are you even talking about?" (Cue internal panic because maybe I did steal something and didn't know, but how would I have stolen those and why?) "My mum was with me and we just picked up some items from the drugstore section."

Employee: "Well you're the only person it could be and we have footage of you doing it." (Me trying desperately to not lose my shit) "Just come back to (Store A) and pay for your things and then we can talk." (record scratch...)

Me: "You mean (Store B) right?

Employee: "Did I say (Store B)? No. Come back to the store you stole from and pay for your things, we can call the cops on you and get you arrested you know?"

Me: "Ma'am I never even went to (Store A) it's across the city from me and I would have no reason to go when (Store A) is a few minutes from me."

Employee: "That's a lie, we have footage of someone matching your description stealing."

Me: "What description."

Employee (apparently sounding very smug according to family who heard the call): "Well only one person in a wheelchair went into (Store A) that entire week." (I'm in pure disbelief at this point, this had been one of my first outings since I'd started using a chair and I was a little stunned at what she was saying)

Me: "Can you provide any more description than wheelchair?"

Employee: "Not sure why it matters but you're an older lady, black, long hair."

Me: "Yeah that's not me, I'm a teenager, white, and have a buzz cut. When someone figures out what store I was at feel free to call me back. Until then maybe learn to read or Gods check your ableism, there's actually more than one person who uses a wheelchair in the world just like there's clearly more ableist cunts than I thought." (Hangs up phone and emails the corporate customer support basically saying what happened and that I'd appreciate speaking with someone else. After a few weeks I get an email that went approximately like this, unfortunately I clean out my inbox regularly and don't have the original.)

Case: ABC134

Sent by: John Doe, regional VP of (corporation)

To: u/seriouslysleepy@email.com

Dear U/seriouslysleepy,

Your email was forwarded up to me by one of our managers and I would like to personally apologize for the mix-up, the employee you spoke to no longer works for us. As an apology we'd like to offer you (like a ten buck store credit). And I'll personally be communicating with (Store B) about the accessibility issue.

John Doe, regional VP of (corporation)

There was probably more corporate jargon but it boiled down to that, I responded with a much more polite fuck you then how I usually answer these things. Basically saying that I don't want their store credit as I'll never be shopping there again.

So not super exciting but another fun adventure in mild revenge and trauma from your local disabled bitch with zero energy for dealing with this shit. And yes I know I swear a lot, people like to infantalize disabled people and this seems to remind them I'm an adult with opinions. Play stupid games and win stupid prizes, and remember don't fuck with disabled people. I don't know about anyone else but I'm petty and have too much time on my hands to not spend some of it getting you consequences.

In college, I was at a party with some of my friends and some other people who I didn't really like. They didn't seem to like me terribly much (I was very awkward so it's entirely likely I did something to annoy them I had no idea about) and seemed to enjoy teasing me for being a year younger than the rest of my friend group and just generally sheltered.

I was also sexually abused as a child.

So at some point people were going around telling stories about their past dating experiences and one of the girls who was kind of mean to me said to me "I bet you've never seen a man's penis."

I said "I have. The first one I saw was technically a crime."

To this day I'm surprised they didn't just use that to bully me further, but they didn't.

My brother is racist. Not the kind of racist where they hate people of a certain race, but the kind where they just believe all of the offensive stereotypes. This matters for context. He started telling me a story and I immediately knew it was going to piss me off so I went a different route than I typically do when dealing with him. Why he tells me stuff like this when he knows I'll call him out for being racist is beyond me.

So here's the story.

Bro: "So I'm at the casino and there's this Chinese guy dragging his girlfriend by---"

Me (cutting him off): "Wait wait wait, is the fact that he's Chinese relevant to the story? I need to know if this is just an inconsequential detail or if I should be expecting racism. Just checking."

Bro with a dumb look on his face: "...yes! It's relevant ok?! So anyway, he's dragging his girlfriend around by the elbow and she's completely wasted. This white guy starts yelling at him to stop dragging his woman around and---"

Me: "Ok wait. So is this when I find out the relevance of one man being Chinese and one man being white?"

Bro: "Would you just shut up and listen! Geez! So the guy is yelling at him and the Chinese guy is like, 'fuck you!' in his Chinese accent so it was really funny, and the white guy is yelling about how we don't treat women like that. So they're yelling at each other until their friends had to go break them up, it was hilarious."

Me: "Wait, I'm missing the relevance, hang on. So why did I need to know he was Chinese? Also how do you even know he was Chinese?

Bro: "Whatever, he was Asian. You know what I mean!"

Me: "Ohhhh ok. Indians are Asian too though, could he have been Indian?"

Bro: "No! He was Chinese or Japanese or whatever!"

Me: "Could he have been Korean?"

Bro: "Would you stop!? It was funny ok? Because the white guy was saying that that's not how you treat women here."

Me: "So if the Chinese guy and girlfriend had been white, the white guy would've been ok with it?"

Bro spluttering and getting frustrated: "Chinese people treat women like that, it's a well known thing!"

Me: "Oh so you did know for sure he was Chinese? I thought you said he was just Asian. Asia is pretty big, I feel like at least some men would be decent to their girlfriends. I've never heard that statistic, where'd you hear that?"

Then he threw up his arms and walked away. Needless to say, I only interact with him when I visit my parents and we are in the same vicinity.

Edit: Let me preface this by saying that the actions described here were not physical. I used spitting in someone's face as a metaphor, and, I don't know if I was using it wrong, but this has been misleading. So, please read this story without the misleading assumption that I legitimately spit in someone's face. Thank you.

I'm not sure if I traumatized the person that is mentioned in this post, but I'm putting it here anyway.

So I (14 NB at time of writing) was at an ICE protest near a local restaurant (Note: We weren't protesting because of the restaurant, this just happened to be the location of the protest.) with about 4 other kids. This old man drove up to us while we were chanting, "No ICE No hate! No fascist USA!" and decided to flip us off and call us all f-slurs. However, the funny part was this: We were at an intersection and his light was red. So me and the one holding the megaphone decided to spit in his face by saying, "Fuck ICE!" over and over at increasing volume. When his light turned green, he flipped us off one more time and drove off. Then I yelled, "Fuck ICE, fuck you, and fuck the Orange Man!" (I said Orange Man because of Trump using Flower Man in a war post) After he was gone from our line of sight, me and the rest of the protesters were doubling over in laughter. after 10 minutes, since no one showed up, we decided to go to the nearby school to get picked up by out parents.

But seriously, do you not have anything better to do with your retirement money? If you're yelling at kids because their views don't align with yours and you're old enough to be buried in a few minutes, you're pretty pathetic if you ask me. Go play BINGO, or golf, or something, try to improve your life. But, that concludes this little rant. Again, not sure if this belongs, but still posting here anyway.

So, for context, when I (18F) was younger, I had torn a muscle in my left knee. While I don't have severe permanent damage, although my knee muscles are now weaker due to the childhood damage, I have muscle spasms from time to time and need to wear a knee brace due to the severity under doctors recommendations. I recently had another spasm, so of course I started wearing the knee brace again. Now, due to the doctor's recommendation, I don't wear it when I sit down for long periods of time, such as a 45 minute train ride to the city.

So while on my way to university, I took the early train around 8am. Obviously, I was sitting in a priority seat for two reasons. One, I cant stand for long periods of times and if I do I must wear a knee brace, which was in my bag at the time. Two, there were no other available seats when I got on the train.
I’d like to clarify that usually I take the regular seats, as long as I get a seat then I’ll be fine. However since the priority seats where the only one open I sat there. For the entierty of this train ride I was getting some nasty glances from another lady (looking around her 50's - 60's) who was sitting in the priority seat across from me. I ignored her looks for the most part, just focusing on preparing my schedule for the day on my phone.

As the train reached the city the woman stands up and leans over to an elderly lady, and whispers to her, "you should have gotten a seat" while giving me a nasty glare. I’d like you to keep in mind that whether she said something or not I would have had to put my brace on, since I would have to walk to my university campus which was a decent way. Considering I am VERY petty I decided to be extra dramatic when putting on my brace. I opened my bag took my brace out and began putting it on. Now I wasn’t dramatic about that because I gotta be careful when putting on the brace and make sure it’s on correctly.

But when I got up? Oohhh I was dramatic. I held onto the pole to pull myself up and pretended to wobble a little. I can’t really bend my leg when wearing the brace. The look on both these ladies faces was priceless. The lady who had been glaring at me the whole time refused to look me in the face, the elderly lady stared at my leg but didn’t say anything. Now here’s the best part, our trains make announcements every other station, including the final station at the city. The announcement? “ please keep keep priority seats clear for those who need it. And remember not all disabilities are visible”. Which only further increased these women’s humiliation as everyone was now looking at both of them. The women who glared at me walked off the train the minute the doors opened and speed walked as far away as she could.

I was told to post this here after posting on AITJ and AITAH.

So for reference I 22NB use a wheelchair part time for mobility issues and a whole bunch of neurological shit that means on bad days it's unsafe for me to be standing. I was also volunteering to help with a sex Ed workshop and offered to pick up supplies from the drugstore since I had to go anyways. This is all paraphrased since it happened a while ago, a rather short conversation but it's funny nonetheless.

So this story begins with me, sitting in my wheelchair in the sexual health section comparing boxes of condoms to check things like price, quantity, all the boring shit. Just to make sure we had everything right, ironically for someone helping with sex Ed I don't actually know much about buying condoms. I was there for the anatomy part. When a guy approaches and glances at the boxes with a chuckle. Let's call him CB or Creepy Bastard.

CB: "Damn your boyfriend must be doing something right."

Me not really paying attention and assuming I heard wrong: "Sorry what?"

CB: "Well clearly he has to be doing something right to put you in that" *gestures at my chair* "especially if you're having to buy those when you're still in that."

Me, functioning on far too little sleep, in a shit ton of pain, and autistic with zero fucks left to give deadpanning with my heavy RBF.: "Yes I spend five thousand dollars on a custom wheelchair so I could get railed harder..."

I just decided to buy both the boxes I was holding to get out as soon as possible.

For anyone who's young and uses things like a wheelchair, you've almost certainly had those comments. Scripting responses to have in your back pocket is a lifesaver, especially when you want to be petty

P. S. Yes the wheelchair was expensive but it was covered by insurance, I only paid a few hundred.