327
submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

He's always wore sketchers. Like since he was 4. Recently, he got really emotionally taking about shoes he wanted for middle school. He said if he doesn't get Nikes he's going to get teased. Great fucking marketing work Nike.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] [email protected] 70 points 2 days ago

I got teased for my shoes. I got better shoes, I got teased for my jacket, I got a better jacket. So then they just made shit up to tease me about.

I saw the fucker that bullied me relentlessly for all three years in middle school about 10 years later. He was pounding stakes in the ground setting up for a carnival. He stopped me in apologized which was kind of surprising. I gave him an absolutely hollow but convincing thanks and what about my day.

I did a little light internet stalking, turns out he's vocal that can't keep a job, construction companies fire him for "no reason" and he's now down to whatever local company will hire him for physical labor. The only truly sad part is he has multiple children with multiple women and will not own up to any of them.

Though, I really suppose I owe a lot of who I am to the hell he put me through. Insults mean fuck all to me and I can ignore stress in a bad situation and make solid decisions.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

The kid who bullied me relentlessly in middle school had an extremely unique name. I've been following his career since as he's been listed in news articles for being arrested for increasingly severe crimes, most recently being described as the kingpin of a car theft ring. Glad to know he's been quite successful in his career so far with credentials like that!

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

At all the schools my kids went to.... Nobody cares. The kids really don't give a shit what other kids are wearing. In some ways it's bizarre given that wasn't the case when I was a kid. But in many ways it's great. I rarely ever hear of bullying, kids just are themselves.

Of course thats woke, because they actually speak to the kids and tell them to consider others and will not tolerate intolerance. So I expect schools like these are few and far between.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago

I went through the same Nike crisis when I was in middle school. Had to have them because my friends had them. Instead I got to joke about my "genuine imitation Nikes" from Kmart.

It's painful for kids that want to fit in because because they don't have the wider and wiser perspective that most of us do as adults.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

The specific request is kind of interesting - when I was a kid, everyone had to wear Nikes or get teased. However for my kids, Nikes were always out.

Fads always come in cycles

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago

I got bullied in school for having reasonably priced shoes instead of Nike Air Max. Kids are pathetic.

[-] [email protected] 50 points 2 days ago

Did you try to teach him to be proud of his independence and differences? Maybe you can work with him on nice come backs against the teasing.

[-] [email protected] 87 points 2 days ago

As far as I remember (25 years ago), this doesn't work. Kids just don't appreciate witty comebacks

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

You know what works?

Punching your bully in the face

[-] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago

If anything they lean in and double down.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] [email protected] 45 points 2 days ago

Oh man it’s like every out of touch bad advice I was given as a kid came back.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago

Comebacks dont matter when you can just point at the shoes and call him broke (im not a teen anymore but come on guys lol, thats when you fit in to avoid issues or have issues, no magical way out)

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[-] [email protected] 39 points 2 days ago

When I was young (in the late 80's) it was Air Jordans.

But, on top of being teased for not having them, you would also get jumped by kids who wanted to steal them from you.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago

Yeah this is a Nike problem and not something that's been going on since the beginning of formalized group education.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

Buy him Hokas and have him tell his friends to eat shit.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Is this still happening? It was happening 45 years ago, ffs.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It also happened to me 20 years ago so I guess nothing changes. If you wore Sketchers, you were going to get bullied.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago

I tried, His Mom agreed and already bought him shoes.

[-] [email protected] 39 points 2 days ago

One of mine is in high school, and as much as I hate the confirming culture, especially because it's led by morons and marketing, I choose the same path. I allowed my (now high school kid) to participate in all the awful crap that I would never do myself when she felt middle school pressure. She was in the popular kids group.

The caveat has been it all comes with extreme education from my end. Not demeaning or condescending. I over-preach about marketing/ads/influencers and constantly question why people make the choices they do. I question everything though. "How do you know that?" often leads back to tick tock.

In my experience, the OTHER kids are now getting smarter as they age. Mine is now able to live her life how she wants and is still with that same group , and the kids (I shit you not) look to her for purchasing advice. The vanity kinda goes away as their brains leave that dumb social hierarchy age.

Note: My kids are/were decked out in Nike. We live by the world headquarters and a good chunk of the kids' parents work there. If that isn't peer pressure, I dunno what is!

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
327 points (92.0% liked)

Mildly Infuriating

40886 readers
964 users here now

Home to all things "Mildly Infuriating" Not infuriating, not enraging. Mildly Infuriating. All posts should reflect that.

I want my day mildly ruined, not completely ruined. Please remember to refrain from reposting old content. If you post a post from reddit it is good practice to include a link and credit the OP. I'm not about stealing content!

It's just good to get something in this website for casual viewing whilst refreshing original content is added overtime.


Rules:

1. Be Respectful


Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.

...


2. No Illegal Content


Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means: -No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)

...


3. No Spam


Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.

...


4. No Porn/ExplicitContent


-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.

...


5. No Enciting Harassment,Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts


-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.

...


6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.


-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.

...


7. Content should match the theme of this community.


-Content should be Mildly infuriating.

-The Community !actuallyinfuriating has been born so that's where you should post the big stuff.

...


8. Reposting of Reddit content is permitted, try to credit the OC.


-Please consider crediting the OC when reposting content. A name of the user or a link to the original post is sufficient.

...

...


Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Lemmy Review

2.Lemmy Be Wholesome

3.Lemmy Shitpost

4.No Stupid Questions

5.You Should Know

6.Credible Defense


Reach out to LillianVS for inclusion on the sidebar.

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS