15 times people exacted sweet revenge on their childhood bullies and healed

The feeling of being picked on is not easy to shake. The crippling anxiety of being spotted by the school bully while walking to class is one that never really leaves you. Bullying isn't just limited to school, with many being bullied even as adults, at work, at home, and so on. Bullies often try to maintain the dynamics between themselves and victims way into adulthood. It takes a lot to stand up to bullies, but a few of them who did manage to turn the tables on their bully share their experience. It all started after Reddit user Marble_Trap asked, "How was your adult revenge on your childhood bully?" Here are some of the top replies on the thread:

1. Wall of shame

After I finished high school a girl who bullied me relentlessly for years messaged me on Facebook saying a bunch of awful things (Facebook was new at the time -we all added anyone we knew). I just screenshotted the messages and posted them on her wall. Then a bunch of her friends messaged me asking if I was ok. I got my revenge and didn't have to stoop to her level. u/Solsed

2. Winning at life

I married my bully's high school crush. u/WhistlinGooch

3. Not worth my time

My best revenge was to just keep on being myself. This girl in high school would criticize me on everything, call me names and pick up fights with me for no reason. She eventually got kicked out of school. We met when we were in our early 20's. She started off nicely with the usual "how are you? What's been happening?" Turns out she hadn't even changed a little bit "oh yeah? Want to be a teacher? You'll probably make a miserable one! I wouldn't send my kids to your school! Ever!" That's when I realized that I was just so over her and her bullying and that there was just no hope for her to realize what she did was wrong. It gave me some sort of satisfaction u/carlinha1289

4. Sweet revenge

Not my bully, but my best friend's. Kinda kept in touch with the entire high school class through Facebook. This a$$hat asks if he can use me as a reference because we got similar degrees and ended up in the second field. Adult him seems like a sham. It's all fake. My high school best friend moved to Europe because of this guy. He can't change that much. So I agree to meet him for drinks and see if he changed. Ten minutes into the meetup and he's telling me about cheating on his wife with girls right out of high school. So, of course, I said yes. Only had 3 calls I guess before he caught on, but I made sure I told the truth. :) u/Reddit

5. Settled by fists

We ended up fighting in front of a crowd. I beat him and he stopped being a jackass bully to everyone after that. I ripped the bully out of him. u/-917- 

6. Their hatred got to them

I was bullied for a lot of things, primarily for being overweight and being nerdy. A lot of my bullies are now also fat, or have noticeably put on weight, while I've started losing. One of them is a drug addict. One was arrested on child pornography charges. One is in an ongoing custody battle and his ex's family is rather...violent. Others just made bad moral choices, such as becoming a gold-digger, drinking regularly, or just continuing to harbor ill feelings against me. u/Solace-in-misery

7. Small wins

I gave him a decaf latte before he left to go to his high-powered Wall st exec job, haha, he's going to be tired around 11! u/Theresafap4that

8. Sorry, who?

Bumped into him at a bar. He apologized for bullying me. I didn't remember him. u/chanchumaetrius
 

9. Knocked their teeth out

I have Tourette's syndrome and was bullied relentlessly in early grade school. One day in the winter I had had enough, so I threw a jagged block of ice at my bully's face. Knocked some teeth out and he needed stitches. I almost got expelled. Worth it. u/Cloudboy416

10. I don't condone violence but...

Not me, but my 9-year-old daughter has to deal with this girl in her class that is a bully to everyone, though she is especially mean to my daughter. My daughter is Type-1 diabetic, and this girl likes to tease her. She does lots of things but is really mean about it. She told her that her feet will get chopped off (due to beetus) and other horrible things. One day, she was waving a big chocolate chip cookie in her face, telling her how she can't eat stuff like that because she's a freak.

My daughter had enough. She got up and slapped the girl across the face, and the cookie went flying too. She yelled, "Leave me alone!" The whole lunchroom went silent, the girl ran to tell the teacher, and the kids cheered. She came home and told us because she felt bad about it. The girl told the teacher, crying of course, but several students also told the whole story. The teacher told my kid matter-of-factly, "don't do that anymore", and yelled at the girl and made her stay in from recess. Since then, this girl gives my daughter a wide berth. I do not condone this behavior, but damn it was hard to keep a straight face when we were telling her that it was the wrong way to resolve things. u/Luder714

11. Watching them self-destruct

I have not taken revenge at all, I have moved away and left it behind as much as I could. Now I just watch him waste his life from afar with a content smile and see how not having an education is kicking his ass, he is losing friends and eventually will end up alone. Not that my life is so amazing, but I am doing better than him. u/Buachetivemor
 

12. The sweet joy of rejecting your bully

My bully hit on me at some bar years after he bullied me. I knew who he was immediately. But he had no idea who I was so he kept going. Finally, I asked, "do you know who I am?" And he said no. I said "I'm (so and so) and you made my life a living hell in elementary school and I want an apology." His face dropped and he apologized profusely. Said that he was a huge a$$hole in elementary school etc. Not gonna lie, it felt goooood. u/MichieD

13. Airtime for them 

I worked as a newscast director for my local TV station a few years back. Part of the job was making show graphics (maps, full screens, OTS [over the shoulders], etc.) for each newscast, including for the local Crimestoppers segment. I prepped the mugshots of no less than three people who gave me shit in school for air during my tenure there. That always managed to put a smile on my face. u/UncleSaltine

14. Acknowledged and apologized

There was a guy who was popular but also a bully at my high school. I ran into him at a bar about 15 years after. He was super cool and the nicest guy ever.
I was talking with his wife and I mentioned the "bully" thing and she said EVERYONE she meets from his High school tells her that story. He even acknowledged it and apologized. Apparently, he was going through a very rough time in high school and he had since learned a lot and life had calmed way down. It made me feel really good about not holding on to things like that. u/deewaynstees

15. Saved his life

A kid that bullied me in high school (he actually gave me a black eye once and got suspended for it) messaged me on Facebook apologizing for everything he did to me back then. I told him it's ok you were just young and didn't know better. I eventually got a drink with him one day to see what he was up to and he broke down on me. Started talking to me about his alcohol problems and how he was self-destructive. He was getting kicked out of his mom's place and had no job. Me being the sap I am offered him a job at the restaurant I was managing at the time. This was about 2 years ago

Fast forward to 3 months ago he is now a kitchen manager at the same restaurant and he asks me if I'd like to get a drink with him. Dude bought me and my girlfriend a ticket to Colorado and told me he will never be able to pay me back for how much I helped him but he is at least in the position where he can try. Colorado was fun. Got really really high. u/SkeithXEpitaph