High school is already the worst part of some people's lives.
And then to go back and face all those people again?
In theory, it's a good idea. In practice, it's a nightmare.
u/Respect_The_Box asked:
What is the worst thing that has happened at a high school reunion party that you attended?
Here were some of those answers.
Who Just Carries Their Paycheck?
Five year reunion- one guy (always kind of a marginal figure in HS, but a nice person), after some sort of discussion, got his paycheck out and got loud saying "Now do you think I'm a loser?" "Don't believe how much I make? Check this out" Of course, he just made things worse, and everyone was laughing at him. I mean - he had his paycheck on him? Haven't seen him since, BTW.
Almost In Middle School
At my 10-year reunion, the organizers were doing the thing where they give "awards" for the person who came the farthest to attend, the person with the most kids, etc. The award came up for who had the oldest kid, and people started shouting out their kids' ages. When it quieted down, this shy girl near the front said in a normal voice, "11" and then we all realized why we had stopped seeing Heather right before graduation.
The Reunion That Reminded Us All Why We Don't Reunite
Small college reunion with my core group of friends from university. This was about 5 years after graduation. We all partied pretty hard in school, but mellowed out in our late twenties. Decided to all meet up for dinner at a local bar/restaurant. Think Applebees, but nicer.
One guy showed up already wasted, with a duffle bag full of multiple packets of weed and the bottle he started on before meeting us. He decided we were boring, finished his bottle in the restroom, and refused to come out. He ended up passing out there.
Bartender kicked him out. He came alone in an uber, and we had no idea where he lived. None of us wanted to take him to our places (he was angry, puking and belligerent), so we dropped him off at his last known address.
His parents' house.
Both of them answered the door, and we handed him over. It was past midnight and incredibly awkward.
He's not invited to the next reunion.
Round And Round
It's been a decade since i finished school. I see an old classmate sometimes when he does maintenance work in my apartment block. About a year ago he asked if I was going to the reunion organised by some of our classmates. I said no because i couldn't think of anything worse and also hadn't been invited. (Apparently they organised it over Facebook which i dont have.)
When i next saw him 6 months later I asked how the reunion was and he exasperatedly explained that it had been a real mess. The mean girls had started planning it together, fell out and then started each planning their own. So there was about 4 tiny awkward parties and everyone was confused.
When You Don't Even Know Your Days
At my 10 year high school reunion, we had a decent turnout, maybe 100+ people. We were at a pretty nice hotel banquet hall.
There was one guy I had known all through high school, and he was a well known stoner. I'll call him Chris for this story.
I see Chris walk in to the banquet hall, stop in his tracks, turn around in a very slow 360 degree circle, surveying the entire room. He just says, "Whoa...", and he looks visibly alarmed.
He stops and his eyes settle on me. I say, "Hey, Chris! Long time no see, man!". He kind of slides over to me and whispers in my ear, "This is really weird... I'm pretty sure I know every single person in this room." And that is when I realize he is wearing the same clothes as all the banquet hall workers.
OH MY GOD. CHRIS IS WORKING AS A SERVER AT HIS OWN HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, AND HE HAS NO CLUE WHAT IS HAPPENING.
I walk him out to the front lobby, and explain it's our 10 year high school reunion. He is mortified, beyond embarrassed. He was never contacted, and didn't even realize it had been 10 years since we graduated. He just knew he was working another catering gig in a neverending series of catering gigs.
I make him take me to his manager. I explain what is happening and tell the manager there is NO WAY this guy is working his own high school reunion. Awesomely, the manager agrees. We find a different suit jacket and tie for him, and I take Chris back to the party. He ended up having a good night.
Capitalism Didn't Work For Everybody
Someone who was considered a popular kid at my high school tried to organize our 10 year high school reunion on a cruise ship. Obviously no one wanted to shell out that kind of money, so the reunion never happened.
School Fundraisers
Not so much at but before. Ten year reunion for my largish school (500graduates per year). The plan was for the reunion to take place over Thanksgiving weekend. To help pay for the expense, raffle tickets were sent out to the entire class to sell.
The reunion didn't happen.
John, You Never Learned
When I was in 7th grade, this rich snob bully, John, grabbed off my head a wool scarf my mother had knitted for me. He threw the scarf into a pile of muddy leaves and jumped up and down on it. When I went home that day my mother was furious when she saw the torn, muddy scarf. She made me tell her who did it, then she called the school principal and yelled at him. The next day John got pulled into the principal's office and paddled. That was back when they still paddled kids.
FIFTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, at our 50th class reunion, John came up to me and angrily said, "You got me into trouble in seventh grade!!!"
I got him in trouble?! And he's still mad about it, 55 years later.
I said, "John you were a d!ck in high school and you're still a d!ck," and I walked away.
Just Cause
It wasn't really bad, just odd. A guy came with full Kiss-style make up on - white face, black shapes around his eyes and black lips. We were too awkward and polite to mention it, so everyone just chatted with him as though it was completely normal to turn up like that.
Dingbats
At my twenty year reunion - two decades after high school - two guys got arrested for fist fighting on the sidewalk outside the bar we went to Friday night.
Why were they fighting? One of the guys slept with the other guys girlfriend in high school, and drunkenly brought up the twenty years ago fling. Neither of them married her, or even dated her after high school.
Those idiots got charges twenty years later for her, though.
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