Ever got your ass kicked by a bully?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

We’ve all seen the stories/threads where people finally stood up to the bully. Usually a well-timed punch or a show of aggressiveness was enough to make the bully back down. The bullies have a new-found respect or realize the target isn’t as passive as they thought.

Have any of you bullied had the other thing happen? You stood your ground and lost? That the bully was really bigger and stronger, and in fact it wasn’t just an insecure bluff? That we don’t become martial arts experts once the adreniline rushes in. I had it happen to me twice in Junior High:

  1. I was bullied by a group and went after the leader. I heard it was a good tactic, take out one and the others stand back in awe. Nope, the posse jumped in immediately and helped the bully. Luckily, the principal intervened before it got too dicey. As a brief aside, the bullies were a different race than me, so I wonder if there was a solidarity: “No way we let a white boy win”

  2. I stood up to a bully who appeared bigger and stronger. Guess what? He was, and had more experience fighting. It wasn’t pretty and I was completely out of league. This one actually had sort of a happy ending, some guys bigger than the bully actually broke up the fight, seeing how one-sided it was.

2

Constantly, between the 6th grad & High School graduation (I didn’t attend the ceremony, as I had no friends).

I never won one fight.

3

I moved around a lot when I was a kid and so usually had some bully-sort pick a fight with me when I got to the new place (this stopped upon High School). When we moved to Atlanta it happened a few times -

  1. In the neighborhood, some kid saw I was the new kid and asked “Wanna fight?” I figured this was how it went, so I kicked his ass until a much older kid jumped me and tried to break my nose. He punched me about 15 times in the face, but I was impervious.

  2. Another kid started a fight with me in the playground. I wasn’t really sure how that started, I think he just kind of jumped me. I probably got the better of it, but it was fairly even. He had the element of surprise, I was probably meaner than him.

  3. The actual class bully started a fight with me. I made him cry and after that he wasn’t the class bully anymore. He was just sort of fatter than the other kids - this was in the early 70s, so he was probably just slightly over average by today’s standards. I wonder if he was just insecure about being pudgy and used aggression to mask it.

Of the three, I either immediately or eventually became friends with the first two, to differing degrees - better friends with the second one because he was in all of my classes. The third one I didn’t see much of and he just steered clear of me. I wasn’t that old and probably benefited from fighting with my brothers a lot. No fair fighting amongst brothers. I didn’t fair very well in actual boxing when we tried it.

4

I’d be very interested to find out whether anyone hasn’t been beat on by a bully. I don’t know of any.

5

In the first grade I was dropped with one punch to the stomach by a larger kid. It was a very early wakeup call. I’m not sure but I think it was the same kid I tangled with in High School and I stopped him from picking on a weaker kid. I then became his target in the hallway much like Chris in Everybody Hates Chris. One day I got tired of it and just drilled him in the stomach. I actually lifted him up and could hear the air rush out of his lungs. how he remained standing I don’t know because I’m sure it hurt. He managed to tag me in the mouth and I guess you could call it a draw. No problems after that.

what was described in the op wasn’t just a bully but a gang of kids. That’s a little different. Best to have friends of your own around to keep things civil (if you can call fighting civil)

6

Never beat on by a bully. Youngest of four brothers. One was a bully. Nobody messed with me. Once I was cutting through a wooded path to a park. There was a clearing midway through where some kids were smoking pot. One kid got in my face. I would have fought him, but I didn’t need to. Another kid stepped up and said, "Hey, he’s a [last name.] I could fight my own battles, but anyone knowing my last name didn’t want to mess with me.

7

I never really was. I had a weird ability to instantly make friends with the “bullies”, despite being a bit shy and completely non-aggressive. I was like the grade school “make love, not war” hippy. Until I really hit puberty I was kind of like “The Dude” of schoolkids, and once I did hit puberty solidly I got fairly big and athletic so that was a decent deterrent.

I was a pretty laid-back kid, and I didn’t hold grudges. I had (and hopefully still have?) a pretty good sense of humor. I was a bit bigger than average too.

In first-grade, the class bully punched me on the first day. In the stomach, IIRC. Of course we were kids so there wasn’t any real damage. I don’t even think it took the wind out of me. I certainly didn’t go down, or cry, or act anything but confused. Of course I didn’t like it so I said the first-grade equivalent of “Hey, man, WTH?!”

Within three weeks we were best friends. I’m still sad that guy moved away when I was 10.

That particular “bully” had a few “bully” friends as well. I ended up good friends with them too. I was never a bully myself - the only person I’ve ever really punched in anger was my brother, and that was when we were kids.

In fourth grade, there was a group of four huge rowdy guys that weren’t quite bullies, but they were big, aggressive and pretty much respected by the entire school. Plus they were fifth graders (my school mixed 1/2 and 4/5 grades together) I have no idea how but I got “adopted” into their clique as the “younger brother” figure, but there you go. One other bully nearly gave me some trouble that year but they ended up giving him a beating when he pushed me in the hall. After that nobody would touch me, and it certainly wasn’t because of my fighting skills. Hell, I’ve never been in a real fight.

Middle school was a bit different. There was always some tension between the white kids, the black kids and the hispanic kids. There was probably two or three good fights per month. But because I was always a bit of a brain, teachers would invariably pair me with a thuggish underperformer on class projects. Most of the time, we ended up on friendly terms - so while I wasn’t exactly friends, I could pretty much come and go where I wanted and some kid would be willing to vouch “It’s ok, GameHat’s cool”.

Of course, by high school I was big and athletic. So no problems then.

Granted, I went to pretty solidly middle-class and peaceful schools. But I never had any significant problems with bullies. I’ve been punched maybe twice ever (not counting my brother, but he’s five years younger than I) and never seriously. I’ve never been in a real fight, and I’ll be perfectly happy to keep it that way.

8

I guess the point of my OP is there anyone who was bullied, stood up to said bully, and… lost. That it didn’t work like on TV or the movies. That the bullies are not always people with self esteem issues that back down to any resistance.

Everyone has their story about when they stood up and the bully backed down (even I do).

But what about the opposite? The stood up, but the bully was still bigger and stronger?

9

Sort of. Generally, I never won a fight, but I have a really high pain threshold. I wouldn’t get a good hit in, but if you can go for long enough you tend to get a decent amount of respect after. People don’t want to keep fighting you if it takes ten minutes to end it.

Only fight I ever solidly lost was against a guy on cocaine and his two buddies. In high school. The guy started the fight, then his buddies came up behind me and smashed my head into a brick wall repeatedly. Apparently, I kept standing for long enough for a teacher to show.

And yeah, the reason I know he was on cocaine is that he got busted from that fight.

10

Edit: Basically, eff the self esteem issues. It’s just about not being willing to be a target. Bullies like pushing around people and easy fights. Not hard ones that can get them marked the hell up. Now, there’s the other kind, who likes fighting, but generally, that’s not a bully, that’s someone who just likes hurting people. Bullies are always in it for the swagger and ego boost.

11

Right here.

12

I never got beat up by a bully…but only because I could run faster and climb fences better than any I ever encountered.

13

I was in a couple of fights in my teenage years, and most were draws, but I remember three in particular where I lost and it would have been worse if someone didn’t break it up or the bully lost steam.

  1. I went to a bush party and was walking across the area where everyone had parked. I was in an unfamiliar town with a few people I knew. It was dark and suddenly I was hit in the back of the head and pushed down. Two girls started kicking me in the stomach and face, and I was luckily able to get my arms over my face in time. Someone either broke it up or they decided to stop on their own. I got up and walked back to the car - I had a black eye and pain in the ribs. I remember one of the girls coming over to the car and wanting to fight me more (I think she even took a swing at me while I was sitting there, but someone intervened). I got the heck out of there and still have no idea why they did that. Guess because I was new.

  2. The other one, again, happened just as I was getting to a house party. I was on the porch about to head inside when someone told me this girl, Allison, was really pissed off at me and wanted to fight. For some reason, even though I was scared, I didn’t care, and didn’t really know WHY she was mad at me. I think it had something to do with her thinking I slept with her boyfriend or something. I was going to go into the party anyhow, but she came out, grabbed my hair, and started punching me in the head. I was swinging, but only lightly connected with her gut. She tried to bang my head against the railing, but I was somehow strong enough to prevent this. Someone broke it up and I left.

  3. This one really scared me. I was walking home alone at about 2 am in the small town I lived it. A car drives by - the only car around - and I hear screaming. At this point, I don’t think anything of it, I thought they were just rowdy. The car turns around and pulls up behind me. Out of the car comes this girl who was dating my ex-boyfriend, who was also in the car. She wanted to fight me because I was the ex (yeah). So there are about six of them and one of me. I’m sort of friends with a few of the guys who were her friends as well, and one guy in particular, Tom. So, she’s going to fight me. She’s one of those tough girls who is very mean to everyone and wears a spiked dog collar and brass knuckles. After about 10 minutes of her yelling at me, another vehicle pulls up and it’s a guy I know, alone, so at least I wasn’t totally by myself. Then she ran at me, grabbed my hair and went at it. She had a hard punch but luckily kept it to the back and side of my head. I hollered for someone to break it up and Tom did. I left with the friend who had pulled up and he drove me home. Ugh.

14

I don’t think I ever made enough of an impression to be targeted by bullies. I was bullied once in first grade, but I beat the girl up, and it never happened again. I was bullied again by some other idiot girl for a couple of days when I started junior high, but I slapped her around a bit, and she left me alone after that. So I suppose I made an impression on her not to bully me, but I don’t think anybody else really noticed me. I wasn’t particularly geeky, or particularly attractive in any way that would draw attention to myself.

15

I was the typical little fat kid that got his ass kicked constantly up through the 11th grade. I finally got my growth and got into shape, but the bullying continued. I finally snapped one day in study hall and belted one of my tormentors so hard that he wound up needing plastic surgery on his nose.

It’s probably why I have become an Taekwondo instructor and take great pride in teaching kids how to not be the victims of bullying.

16

The thing about bullies is, if you’re going to use force on them, you have to know WHEN to fight your battles. You only fight when you’re ready not them. Otherwise, they’ll just win

17

I don’t recall ever standing up and being beaten by a bully. I was attacked and beat by many at once, several times, but that’s not what the OP wants I think. And I recall a girl who walked up to me and out of the blue kicked me in the crotch, then walked off; but I never had the chance to even think of fighting back much less doing so. In one on one fights they tended to back off, because I was always the first to go for a weapon. If a kid kicked me in class, I’d pick up my chair and hit him with it several times. And I generally carried some kind of improvised/potential weapon, just in case.

18

I was 11 the bully was 18. No I didn’t win that fight.

19

Getting whomped by a bully was expected once in a while when I was a tike. What really ticked me off was every damn adult who dispensed the following wisdom-“If you stand up to him, he’ll back down every time, because bullies are really cowards at heart.”

20

Nope. Had four bullies that I can recall. Whupped two of them and avoided the others as much as possible.