So I want to talk about something that happened to me in highschool, when I became the most hated person in my class for telling a joke on the first day of school. That was 10 years ago and I have never told a joke since, because of what happened back then. I still don’t understand what I did wrong.
So I remember meeting my new classmates and thinking that everyone looked so cool and better than me. They didn’t give me much attention at first, so I decided to get some fame by telling jokes.
So when most of my classmates were sat around a table, I hyped everyone up and told my joke:
“A snake was riding a bike when he met a bear. The bear told him: “but snake you can’t ride a bike, you don’t have legs!” The snake realized that and fell off.”
Noone laughed at first and then everyone started cringing and laughing at how awkward that joke was. I thought I was finally popular but later realized they were laughing at me, not with me.
Later when my classmates wanted me to tell the joke to others (I was like an attraction which was good), I added some funny mistakes too, like the bear saying “But snake you can’t ride a car – I mean bike! HAHA You dont have insurance HAHA. I mean legs.”
But people were still making fun of me for it unfortunately.
So later I tried to get some status by supporting the “alpha” guys in my class, for example when the alpha classmate told us guys “Yo let’s go play soccer” I was like YES YES SOCCER LET’S GOO SOCCER IS AMAZING!!! Unfortunately people cringed at that too and eventually started bullying me for being weird.
Was my behavior really that weird? I was genuinely just trying to become accepted.
4 comments
i think the joke is funny. funny how bad it is, but funny. especially with the mistakes. i prob would’ve thought you were cool for that lol. they probably just didn’t know what to make of you, as a new kid who was making a strong first impression.
i think the soccer thing may have been a little too much imo. some people are turned off by people who jump into things too enthusiastically, especially if it’s uninvited since you’re new. i would focus less on “getting status” and more on being your genuine self. people can see through attempts to gain favor.
It feels a little bit as if you were trying too hard back then. While it’s absolutely understandable to want to belong to a group, there seems to be a line where wanting to belong becomes desperation. I won’t speak for your classmates, just for myself. To me trying too hard feels pushy. And trying too hard usually means that you are not being yourself, which would make it interesting but just someone who wants to please for the sake of pleasing.
Sounds like you tried too hard. But I like the joke lol
I think people need to lighten up. I’m with you
you were trying too hard, like another commenter said. instead of trying to be accepted by people that i bet you haven’t even seen since you graduated, accept yourself first, because at the end of the day, you’re in your body until the day you pass. make another joke if you like doing so, i don’t think something from high school should make you stop doing something completely harmless because people laughed at you and not with you.