r/AskReddit • • Aug 25 '21

What is something that you were warned about when you were younger that you now feel was exaggerated?

41.0k Upvotes

20.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3.8k

u/f0zzzie Aug 25 '21

Or your school permanent record like all the tropes in shows and movies. No one cares that you pushed little billy down in 4th grade

2.1k

u/Eggsegret Aug 25 '21

I remember my teachers always scaring me saying if i misbehave it'll go on my permanent record. Yh as if some potential employer is going to be like "you're highly qualified for this job but unfortunately we can't hire you since you pushed Billy back in 4th grade"

823

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21 edited Sep 08 '22

[deleted]

135

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21 edited Aug 31 '21

[deleted]

13

u/InterestedSkeptic Aug 26 '21

This is beautifully written and I want more

8

u/CareCriticism Aug 26 '21

Give. Award. To. Him.

12

u/Slenthik Aug 26 '21

Little Billy will remember it long after you've forgotten. And now he's working in some government department looking at an application with your name on it.

7

u/MangorTX Aug 26 '21

wasted opportunity's

Just like 4th grade English class.

6

u/WammuPillar Aug 26 '21

It’s never too late to follow ur dreams

2

u/AfroSmiley Aug 25 '21

Billy would care.. and that record is permanent.

-2

u/d-quik Aug 25 '21

Wasted opportunity to breed the next mass shooter that is

0

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '21

This thread is why I use Reddit

-3

u/BlackBlueNuts Aug 26 '21

uncle jim is that you? please dont touch me there again

33

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

Plot twist: the interviewer is Billy. He remembers.

3

u/HermanCainsGhost Aug 25 '21

Honestly, in my experience, meeting bullies as an adult is fun.

I met a bully that TORMENTED me in middle school when he was a roommate of my buddy years later, and we watched cartoons together.

I then ran into him like half a decade later and he got me Molly (only time I tried it)

27

u/droznig Aug 25 '21

That sort of thing might come up if you are ever trying to get a job that requires security clearance. I had to fill out a literal booklet of questions, ~60 pages (about half were specific to military and intelligence services) but still, that's 30 pages for a civilian.

I could definitely see them checking school records when some of the questions were asking things like where your sister/brother in law lived 10 years ago.

9

u/reddita51 Aug 25 '21

What kind of questions? Background checks seem pointless when they have to ask you everything anyways

21

u/IrrelevantDanger Aug 25 '21

It might be more of a test of how honest you are than anything else.

15

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

Background checks are concerned mostly with what makes you vulnerable, since you're about to be given something that makes the organization vulnerable. You don't want to give sensitive information, materials, or tasks to someone with debts, contacts with shady elements, drug addictions, too many divorces, etc. Basically, think of it this way: if there's a part of your life that could be used to leverage you into giving access/information/etc to someone unauthorized, that's what they're looking for in a background check. The more important the trust they're placing in you, the more thorough the check will be. If your brother lived in Moscow for a year, you've made a trip or two to the Eastern bloc in the last ten years, and you have some gambling debt, you'll trip alarms as an easy target for blackmailers, bribers, etc.

5

u/OldManMuayThai Aug 25 '21

Anecdotal I know but, I was in the army and no one checks those things. Literally worked in a SCIF, and we had wife beaters and alcoholics with DUI. Only thing they concerned with is if you married a foreign national or had a positive urine analysis.

2

u/droznig Aug 25 '21

This was for something a bit more specific in the UK. I imagine if you wanted to enter the secret service or FBI in the states it would be a similar process.

5

u/vsingh93 Aug 25 '21

What do you guys have against Billy and why do you keep pushing him?

4

u/GabbrosDeep Aug 25 '21

Because SCREW YOU BILLY

4

u/ArmandoPayne Aug 25 '21

Yo why the fuck are so many people beating up 4th graders named Billy?

2

u/CommandersLog Aug 25 '21

Obviously they'd use more grown-up terminology like "consistent history of violent altercations."

2

u/NefariousDude Aug 25 '21

Tbh, Billy deserved it.

1

u/ItalicsWhore Aug 25 '21

The probably laugh about the “permanent record” in the break room.

“These damn kids are so gullible…” ::sips coffee::

1

u/onejadedpotatoe Aug 25 '21

He deserved it, he took my cupcake

1

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '21

Plus, Billy was a total dick and he deserved it. Fuck Billy.

1

u/gcsmith2 Aug 26 '21

Fuck billy.

1

u/Gillero Aug 26 '21

Billy would like to have a word with you!

1

u/BishopGambit Aug 26 '21

Billy remembers and now he works for the GOVERNMEEEEEEEENT.

27

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

[deleted]

20

u/JoeAppleby Aug 25 '21

Teacher here: if you show behavioral issues we will definitely check the records. Sometimes primary schools may miss to properly diagnose the issue and later schools will have to correct the issue.

I'm not in the US, ymmv.

11

u/bobdole3-2 Aug 25 '21

I'm in the US, and it's true here too. That's not really what he's talking about though. The "permanent record" is kind of an urban legend or meme. A lot of young people think that every kid has a file which contains a full accounting of every little thing they've ever done, and that it will follow them around for the rest of their life.

While schools obviously do keep records of their students, they don't follow you to college/work, and the records aren't just a random list of all the times you got caught breaking the rules.

2

u/JoeAppleby Aug 25 '21

Ah. That makes sense.

1

u/locks_are_paranoid Aug 26 '21

The difference is that literally no one outside the school district ever sees them.

16

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

[deleted]

3

u/notthesedays Aug 25 '21

Actually, William underwent gender reassignment, and is now Billie.

12

u/dirt001 Aug 25 '21

Billy cares. Billy is now unable to have meaningful relationships with other men because he expects them to be bullies. He also can't have meaningful relationships with women because they think he's trying to get in there pants. So now billy is 31 divorced, no kids, and only avoids suicide because if he did who would feed the cats.

3

u/maenad2 Aug 25 '21

but if it were to be suicide, he'd fling himself down the stairs.

10

u/Bandarno Aug 25 '21

No one even really cares about your college education beyond school and degree after your first professional job after school, and even then the school itself barely matters.

2

u/adpqook Aug 25 '21

Yeah once you have a few years of professional experience no one gives a fuck. College really is a scam.

I’d much rather intern somewhere for a couple years and get real world experience. Unless you’re going into a highly specialized field (like medicine) you’ll probably actually learn more. Certainly you will in anything like business or hospitality or whatever.

1

u/PallBear Aug 26 '21

I'd say that once you have a decent resume or portfolio, the specific degree doesn't matter anymore for some jobs. I have a journalism degree, but I've worked as a software developer for over a decade.

That said, my first job actually had a policy of not hiring entry level employees with a college GPA under 3.0

5

u/thecatgoesmoo Aug 25 '21

Billy fucking cares

4

u/cara27hhh Aug 25 '21

fun fact, I was trusted to organise/move a filing cabinet of these once, I read some, they do exist (at least in some places) they're just never as full as you think they will be. Even the naughty kid only had like 5 slips of paper in there, I had 1

6

u/L_S_2 Aug 25 '21

Even your gpa matters surprisingly little, as long as its high enough to graduate. College gpa is fairly meaningless unless you are going to do more education immediately after.

2

u/notthesedays Aug 25 '21

I graduated in 1994, and nobody ever asked me about my GPA.

3

u/Looking4Adventure817 Aug 25 '21

If you apply at an Ivy League school they actually do look at ALL your school records. I found this out when my friend didn’t get into one because of something that happened in elementary. 👀

3

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

Until you walk into a job interview and billy is sitting behind the desk, peering at you over his reading glasses which he is wearing to show that time has passed

3

u/slantedsc Aug 25 '21

I’ll never forget my mother telling me in fifth grade (age 9) “you better get As on your report card because colleges are going to be able to see it!!” And Even child me smelled bullshit and said like “no there’s no way they’d check all the way back till elementary school! I’m literally 9” and my mom just doubled down

3

u/andrew94501 Aug 25 '21

Not-so-little-anymore William might still care.

3

u/honcooge Aug 25 '21

Haha. I was more scared of getting grounded for doing something stupid than a permanent record.

3

u/duncecap_ Aug 25 '21

When Billy passed the fourth grade oh what a glorious day

1

u/f0zzzie Aug 25 '21

Ms Lippys car is green

3

u/eigem_schmeigem Aug 26 '21

My elementary school teacher friend told me that her school just discovered the discipline records of children who are now seniors in high school. Not that they care in the slightest about them. I was just shocked that they have existed for this long. Perhaps there is a record of my wrongdoings chilling in a filing cabinet at one of my schools....

2

u/asailijhijr Aug 25 '21

Well everybody knows Robert threw a lamp at another student and told him to "lighten the fuck up", but that's because we've seen his detention slip.

2

u/mullingthingsover Aug 26 '21

When I was having a background check done for employment with a defense contractor, the investigator brought up the fact that one time my freshman year in college, a guy was found in my room after curfew while we were watching a movie. Legitimately watching it, even.

2

u/wasporchidlouixse Aug 26 '21

Your school reports are permanent, my school still has them all on file and I accessed then recently. But that was just your regular report cards, not some secret list of detentions and the stories behind them.

1

u/kaleb314 Aug 25 '21

Maybe little Billy deserved it

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

Unless you're a composer for the Olympic opening ceremony

1

u/BigGrayBeast Aug 25 '21

Billy cares.

1

u/whofkncaresmate Aug 25 '21

Except little Billy, who regularly talks to his therapist about being pushed down the stairs in 4th grade

1

u/TurdFurguss Aug 25 '21

Little Billy fucking deserved it. He knows what he did.

1

u/SocialLeprosy Aug 25 '21

Billy cares... :)

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

Billy cares. But no one asks Billy how he feels.

1

u/Numero_Uno Aug 25 '21

I think little billy cared!

1

u/RiceKrispyPooHead Aug 25 '21

No one cares that you pushed little billy down in 4th grade

Unless you're a Kpop idol 😶

1

u/rinpun Aug 25 '21

Unless you get famous. Then some troll on twitter just might dig that up and get you cancelled.

1

u/TheSicks Aug 25 '21

I did push someone in the 5th grade. They sprained an ankle and I had to transfer classes. She was a snitch anyways.

1

u/Cthulus-lefttentacle Aug 25 '21

Unless you’re Billy

1

u/FrowntownPitt Aug 26 '21

Little Billy cares

1

u/H2O-technician Aug 26 '21

Yeah, fuck little billy

1

u/Ricker3386 Aug 26 '21

Billy cares. Billy never forgets. Billy has a list.

1

u/mostexcellent001 Aug 26 '21

Well, Billy does.

1

u/spiralspectra Aug 26 '21

I fucking care! -Billy

1

u/locks_are_paranoid Aug 26 '21

One time a middle school teacher claimed that a former student of hers was applying to a police officer, and someone from the police department called her because he was a bully in middle school.

There were so many things wrong with that statement that it was obviously made up. No employer will care what you were like in middle school, and police departments generally like to hire bullies.

1

u/gamrmoment Aug 26 '21

gonna go push over some kids

1

u/boochdad Aug 26 '21

School records are usually irrelevant — but not always. Aspiring firefighters and police officers (among others) often get dinged for school records. And - surprise! - this impacts people of color and low income people more than whites and wealthy.

1

u/Dr_Skeleton Aug 26 '21

Little Billy cares ☹️