Football coach dumped ‘stitching’ work on teacher because she was a woman — her daughter’s malicious compliance humbled him
'If sewing is for girls, just remember most men's suits were made by men...'
A sexist football coach from South Dakota thought "stitching" and "baking cookies" were only a woman's domain, until one of his students showed him his real place. The student's mom was a teacher, working in the same school as her. In fact, she was a Family & Consumer Sciences (FCS) teacher with over 30 years of teaching experience. After high school, the student began helping her mom because she was struggling with so much work. One day, the football coach entered the class and demanded that her mom fix the practice football jerseys and joked (again) about baking him some cookies. To this, the child gave a befitting response. His student (u/witchontheprarie) posted the hilarious story on Reddit on December 18. The student, who goes by the initials S, spoke exclusively to Scoop Upworthy about the incident.
The student confessed, "Of course, she said yes to fixing the jerseys (and laughed at the cookie request for the Nth time), then passed the task to me." She had attended the football coach's class, as he was also the shop teacher, who let male students treat their female classmates terribly. "He would also ask me when my mom would make him cookies. And I mean ALL the time. I heard this request 100+ times. He would say it when I was in his class & my classmates would snicker," the student said. Speaking to Scoop Upworthy, she explained that "we had all grown up with it so no one cared," adding that the coach singled her out "cuz my mom was the HomeEc/Family & Consumer Science teacher."
For the longest time, she didn't do anything except when she finally decided to teach him a lesson. The student had this big box of football jerseys that she fixed within a week. However, she deliberately sewed all the "head holes" shut. "Then I folded them nicely & stacked them all in the box. I put the box on his desk," she wrote. Later, the student asked her mom if the football coach said anything to her, but she said no. "Years later, I asked her if he had ever asked her to fix his practice jerseys again. Also no! I finally confessed to my mom what I did & it was pretty obvious she had no idea," she said. She told Scoop, "I never interacted with him again after that because I went to college 4+ hours away & didn't come home much." Thinking about it still makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside," she shared in the post.
The patriarchal society often associates sports like cricket or football with men, and this gender stereotype begins as early as school. Supporting the notion, a study by the Pew Research Center found that while girls mostly face pressure to look good and fit in society, boys are labeled with different responsibilities. The research found that nearly half (43%) of the male American teens said they felt a significant amount of pressure to be physically fit, while 36% were expected to be good at sports only based on their gender. However, when it comes to achieving academic success, both genders are equally pressured; although girls (71% vs. 65%) face slightly more pressure than boys.
Meanwhile, reacting to the sexist football coach story, u/no-seesaw4444 commented, "This is the perfect malicious compliance. You literally did exactly what he asked — you fixed the jerseys. The fact that the fix involved making them unusable is technically not your problem. Your mom's reaction makes this even better. Also, 100+ cookie requests to someone who helped voluntarily? He had it coming." Similarly, u/slurpeeandslutty wrote, "Lol, honestly, I kinda respect the hustle. took the time to fix those jerseys meticulously instead of just ignoring the dumb coach’s annoying pranks. It doesn’t get more satisfying than quiet payback that actually helps out your mom, too. The coach got played hard, no cap; sometimes, petty is the way to go!" u/zyyntin pointed out, "If 'sewing is for girls,' just remember most men's suits were made by men. They had to be sewn."
Reflecting on how such an incident might be handled today, S said, "I have no idea how it would have been handled now. There were lots of changes after I left." She remembered many teachers having 30–40 year tenures and said one long-time teacher "was cool tho." She also shared that experiences like this prepared her for "d bags in the real world," adding that she later reported a sexually harassing college instructor whose "contract wasn’t renewed," and helped expose a former boss whose license to practice was revoked.
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