I don't think the boy even got yelled at.

Figures.

These days, schools are better at combating bullying, right?

Fucking a on the well explosion.

Zenkitty, nothing like mansplaining to make you see red.

Shortly after I moved, a boy stuck a sign on my back that said, "I can't help it if my butt smells." I didn't notice until I got back to class and had it pointed out to me. Little wanker.

These days, schools are better at combating bullying, right?

They're supposed to be. Doesn't always work. There are at least things that they're supposed to be doing, though, and a lot of schools have various programs in place. They don't always work, but at least they show that someone is trying to do something.

There weren't too many bullies in my school, as I recall. I remember talking smack to the one notable one as a freshman (perhaps risky, as he later did time for knifing someone, but it seemed to establish me as not a good target to pick on from the start) and never had trouble otherwise. We didn't really have the jock bullies/mean cheerleaders running the school dynamic either; most people just got along.

One girl hit upside the back of the head on the bus in seventh grade in Florida, and I was astounded more than anything. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before.

One of my favorite Homicide episodes was the one where the bullied kid ends up killing his tormentor. The bully was a popular jock; nobody thought the bullying was a big deal except the kid who was bullied.

Oh, and I should say that the bullying episode I had in 7th grade was isolated. I don't know that I ever saw that girl again in school. But it was traumatizing when it happened!

I don't think I ever encountered bullying in school. Some physical altercations, sure, but nothing standardised that I'd characterise as bullying. I did slap the shit out of the pretty guy on campus for looking cross-eyed at my sister. I can't even remember exactly what he did wrong, now.

One of my favorite NCIS episodes has McGee getting to intimidate a kid who was bullying some nerd kids by apparently reminiscing about how bullies operate, then smiling and pointing out that he used to be one of the kids that was bullied but now he was a federal agent who could make the bully's life very difficult indeed. A nice bit of nerd revenge.

An interesting article:

How panhandlers use free credit cards

What would happen if, instead of spare change, you handed a person in need the means to shop for whatever they needed? What would they buy? Can you spare your credit card, sir?

...

Over the past two weeks, I wandered Toronto’s downtown core with five prepaid Visa and MasterCard gift cards, in $50 and $75 denominations, waiting for people to ask for money.

When they did, I asked them what they needed. A meal at a restaurant, groceries, a new pair of pants, they said. I handed out the cards and asked that they give them back when they’d finished shopping. I either waited at a coffee shop while they shopped or — in the case of those who could not buy what they needed nearby or were reticent about leaving their panhandling post — I said I’d return on another day to pick up the card. That’s when I would reveal that I was a journalist.

Some were unbelieving at first. All were grateful. Some declined the offer. Some who accepted didn’t come back, but those that did had stories to tell.