The worst trouble you were ever in

In My Humble Opinion
41

From experience: In my small rural (Midwest, USA) high school in the early 60’s, slam books were a big deal.

You went to the local dime store and bought a 29 cent spiral notebook. You wrote your own name on the cover and then, at the top of each page, you wrote the name of a classmate, a popular singer, a clothing fad, a dancer on American Bandstand, a movie star. etc. You mixed up the headings. The books were then handed around and your classmates posted their anonymous comments. You’d see kids in the hallways between classes, with stacks of spiral notebooks in their arms and you’d know they had study hall next period because ALL you did in study hall was write in peoples’ slam books! It should be pointed out that only girls had slam books. Boys did not have their own, but they were encouraged to comment in them.

The trick was to try and snag your own notebook before the end of the day so you could take it home and read it through and cry in your own bedroom if you saw anything like “fat” or “ugly” or “bad dancer”. You also tried to ferret out who had written what by using the earliest versions of handwriting analysis. Some gave themselves away by using unique color ballpoint pens.

It all came to a grinding and dramatic halt when the female gym teacher herded all of the girls into the gym and demanded all slam books. We were allowed to go get them from our lockers if we didn’t have them with us. Standing behind a huge pile of slam books, the gym teacher proceeded to dump them all in a big trash can and lecture us on our very bad behavior. We were threatened that if she ever saw another slam book, SHE WAS CALLING OUR PARENTS! (The worst punishment imaginable back then).

Slam books went away. We found other ways to terrorize each other.

42

Like most of the others here, I’ve never been caught for anything too egregious.

That said, for a long time I had a date marked on my calendar for when a certain statute of limitations would expire. That date was four years ago, so I am in the clear.

43

I was taught by Nuns for 12 years.

You folks do not know what trouble is?

If law or school trouble is all you have, you have not been in real trouble.

Somehow you end in a ‘live or die situation’, you have made your choice on actions, Now you wait for 30 seconds to find out & the fear builds. Now you have troubles IMO.

44

:smiley:

45

Biggest legal trouble: I was blundering around in a mental fog for awhile (depression) and just completely forgot to renew my car’s license plates. I got pulled over by a *very *nice cop. I had current auto insurance, but was carrying proof from a previous 6-month period. He could have had my car impounded on the spot, because my plates were more than 3 months out of date. Thank **god **that didn’t happen. He just gave me a ticket. It came with a mandatory court date due to the severity of the offense. I showed the judge that I had renewed my plates the next day, and had my proof of insurance for that date. I didn’t even have to pay a fine, much less a penalty. He just let me go. MAJOR sighs of relief were had that day.

Biggest childhood trouble: when I was in 5th grade, I joined the rest of the kids on my school bus in chanting, “We want a new bus driver!” and “Leo sucks!” (his name). All of us got pulled into the principal’s office that day, one at a time. The instigators got paddled, but I was let go after a few stern words. I was crying because I was so scared. The bus driver even said that I was normally a very good kid and he didn’t understand why I did it (I tearfully said I didn’t know why I’d done it, either). Honestly, I just got caught up in the moment and didn’t want to be the only one **not **saying it. Mob psychology is a bitch.

Biggest work trouble: I was 3 days from leaving an old call center job. I had already put in my 2-week notice, and was totally phoning it in (pun intended). My boss caught me rerouting calls I was supposed to be taking. Under normal circumstances, this would have warranted an immediate final warning. That’s why I did it, because I thought, “What’s the worst that could happen? I’m leaving anyway.” Since I was so close to going, they offered to pay me through the full notice period in exchange for walking me out the door that day (it wasn’t really an offer, it wasn’t optional). I was upset because I never got a chance to say goodbye to my coworkers (plus the indignity), but of course it was my own goddamn fault.

46

My father used to own some 19th-canture silver dollars in a little box on his dresser. One day, when I was about 8 or 9, I stole them and spent them. If I’d have half a brain I would have SOLD them, but no, I simply SPENT them at face value. My father had a horribly abusive temper, and he used it on me with no restraint.

47

Like others, I did many things as a youth that would have gotten me in serious trouble, if I had been caught.

However, the worst trouble I was in, I think, happened while sailing.

My dad and I built a small sailboat (well, he mostly built it and I helped). It was a trifle tempermental. I sailed it about at the cottage, which is on a large island in a lake in Northern Quebec - pretty remote.

One day, I decided it would be a fun idea to see if I could sail all the way around the island. What I did not know, was that the wind out in the main channel was much, much stronger than what I was used to. This was very stupid on my part, as it was early in the year and the water was very, very cold - I was a strong swimmer and if I capsized I could usually count on being able to swim to shore (plus I had a life preserver on): but in that water, chances were I’d die of hypothermia before I made it.

I spent four hair-raising hours fighting my way down the main channel, through some serious white-caps, with a shrieking wind attempting to drive the boat under. At points I was sure I was going to die; I seriously considered sailing to shore, ditching the boat, and walking back. But I made it.

The most serious legal trouble I was ever in was really one my wife got into. My wife made some investments in foreign securities. What she didn’t know, was that over a certain limit, there were reporting obligations. Apparently, the way it works, is that if you don’t report, the government here assesses a fine based on when you should have reported - which increases based on each day you fail to report (plus interest). One day, the government became aware that the reporting had not been made, and sent us a notice - that we either had to pay a fine of tens of thousands of dollars for failing to report, or go to jail!

What we did, was basically beg for lieniency based on ignorance, which fortunately for us worked. Ignorance of the law is of course no excuse, but they chose not to press the matter.