Bullying will happen to most people at some point in their lives. People might think that this only happens at school, but a lot of bullying happens at work and even between neighbours. This article talks about how I've learned to deal with these mean people by playing what I call the "nutter card."
At school, it was easy for a bully to pick on me. I had a problem with my speech called a stutter or a stammer. I struggled with my weight all the time and was bigger than most of my classmates. I was also the shortest boy in the class.
The bullies thought I would be easy to catch, and they were right. I didn't know how to deal with these people, and they made my high school years pretty sad. I didn't tell anyone about the bad things that were happening to me, and I couldn't wait to leave when I was sixteen. I have to admit that I was pretty weak and a bit of a wimp at this time in my life.
I thought this wouldn't be a problem for me at work because I would be working with adults. How could I have been so wrong?
I used to work in an office, and one of my jobs was to answer the phone and make calls myself. Because I stutter, this task was very hard for me to do. I often had to go to work even though I felt sick.
Gary was the biggest bully who made my life terrible. Gary was one of the most popular people in the office. He was a bit of a rebel, so the women liked him. He was big and strong, and on the weekends he loved to play rugby. He would often come to work on Monday bragging about how many beers he had drunk and how many women he had slept with the night before. I thought it was all a bunch of nonsense and that he probably stayed home with his mom and watched TV. Some people treated him like he was a god.
Gary was always making fun of me and would imitate my stuttering all the time. I tried not to be bothered by it, but I was. I let this go on for almost a year, and by then I was very sad and ready to give up.
Then I read a book about bullying, which talked about something called "playing the nutter card." Basically, you can be whoever you want to be at work, for example. There are all kinds of crazy people, and most bullies will back off if you threaten them in a strong and convincing way, because most bullies are scared.
I decided to try it out and be brave. Gary is twice as big as me and twice as strong, so I couldn't hurt him physically. Even though he doesn't know anyone in my group of friends, I had to show him that they could.
On the day I did it, it wasn't something I had planned. Even though I wanted to do it, I never really thought I would. On this particular day, though, the abuse was constant and very upsetting. I was very angry, so I left work and went to hide behind a tree while I waited for Gary's car.
When Gary finally got close to his car and went to open the door, I jumped on his back but quickly fell off. He turned around and looked surprised, but when he saw it was me, he was happy. I started cussing at him and told him I couldn't take it anymore. I told him that some of my friends are a little drunk, but that they would do anything to help me. If I told them about the bad things he was saying to me, they wouldn't be happy and would probably beat him up. I told him that if he ever made fun of me, I would tell them and he would have to wait for his punishment. I then shook and ran away.
I was nervous the next day when I went to work, but I'm happy to say that he took the bait and was good as gold after that.
In the end, don't let people pick on you. Do whatever it takes to get the power back and get away from these awful people. Good luck.
