When you read stories about kids getting bullied at school, they’re usually about kids being bullied by their peers. Rarely do these stories involve adults, outside of the ones stepping in to help the victim. This Reddit user, however, has that rare story. When he was in grade school, it was his bus driver who picked on him mercilessly. Thanks to advice from his mother, this is how he got his harmless but sweet revenge. The post is 9 years old now, but it still carries with it an important message.
The Mean Bus Driver
Reddit user (OP) Cormorant11 wasn’t exactly an extrovert growing up. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He was very shy and didn’t have many friends. Most of the friends he did have were older than him because they were his brother’s friends, with whom he sat on the bus to and from school each day. It wasn’t a problem until he was around 10 years old and moved up into middle school. (1)
“when I entered fifth grade and moved up to the middle school I got a new bus driver who was mean, incredibly obese, and absolutely set on segregating the bus by age. He yelled at me a few times for sitting with my brother. At some point I just gave up and sat in the front, sitting alone and reading books. I was pretty introverted (still am) so I didn’t like talking to kids my own age.” he explained.
At some point throughout the school year, the bus driver noticed that he was always reading books. That’s when he started making fun of him. The driver nick-named him “book boy” and would loudly and sarcastically remark about how intelligent OP must be from reading books all the time. The driver would taunt him about not having friends, telling him that he should put down Harry Potter and talk to the other students.
Read: Students in Denmark have mandatory empathy classes as part of the school curriculum
The Final Straw
Finally, one day while on the bus home from school, the driver did something that was truthfully the final straw for OP. The driver made an announcement over the intercom asking for someone to please come sit with “book boy” because he needed to make some friends. Only 10 years old at the time and absolutely humiliated, OP was in tears by the time he finally got home. That’s when he told his mom all about the mean bus driver who’d been picking on him almost the entire year.
“She told me not to feel bad, that I’m a smart kid and he’s just a dumb bus driver. She said that when I grow up I’ll surely be more successful than him, and don’t take anything he says to heart because he’s just unhappy with how his own life turned out. Maybe he wishes he read books when he was my age.” he wrote in the forum.
The Comeback
Thanks to his mother’s words, OP was feeling pretty confident. Rather than put his books down, he began reading even more. A few days later, again on the bus ride home from school, OP had his moment to clap back at the bus driver who’d been taunting him for so long. Just before his stop, the driver teasingly jeered at him “So, book boy, why are you always reading so much?”. As OP was getting off the bus, he turned to the bus driver with a remark that made the man never pick on him again.
“I replied, “So I don’t grow up to be a bus driver.” I hopped off the bus without even turning to see the wreckage.”
Not only did he shut the driver down forever, but he ended up finally making a friend. A student who lived nearby and got off at the same stop overheard the remark and thought it was hilarious. The two became friends and have been ever since.
Read: Should Schools Fine the Parent of a Bully?
Reddit’s Opinion
Reddit users who read his story couldn’t get enough of the shy kid’s sassy takedown. They not only loved what he said but how he said it. It was like the ultimate mic-drop, walk away from the explosion without flinching, super-hero moment.
“This made me smile so big. The fact that you didn’t look back at him makes it even colder and more awesome.” wrote one user.
“truly cool people NEVER look back at the explosion.” wrote another.
Others praised his mother for allowing OP to stay true to himself. She taught him the lesson that usually when someone makes fun of you, it has more to do with something they dislike about themselves than you, anyways.
“Awesome advice from a very cool mother. Good on you for standing up for yourself!”
Others mentioned that they don’t usually like it when people put others down based on their profession, but that this bus driver truly seemed like he deserved it. They praised OP for putting the man in his place.
“I normally hate when people get put down because of their profession, but f**k this guy.”
We certainly hope that this bus driver learned his lesson that day. Hopefully, he never picked on another student ever again. What do you think? Was the boy right in saying what he did or was he rude to the bus driver? Let us know in the comments!
Keep Reading: Mom arrested for fighting her kid’s suspected bully on school bus
Sources
- “How to sass out your bullying bus driver.” u/Cormorant11. Reddit. 2013
Attention: While many of these stories are interesting, and we would love to take their word for it, the content in this article was taken from an unverifiable source (i.e., a Reddit forum). As such, we cannot guarantee that these events truly happened in the way that they are described in the original source.