How have you been taken advantage of.

Digsy · Blue Jay Joined: Feb 19, 2011 Posts: 81

I hope your in a reading mood.
A group of boys regularly took advantage of me as a child, I have no complaints though and they very rarely beat me up like they did the other children.
Some of these boys were in the same class as me in junior school.

During my younger years I recall it being harmless bullying, the one I always fell for was when they'd say "you've got something on your top" and point to my chest, when I look down they bring the hand up to flick my nose. I appeared to fall for this pretty much every time and it seemed to keep them amused. I didn't really fall for the "you've got something on your top" line, I'd know if I spilled something, I'd have felt it not many crumbs get past my attention, I used to watch the hand moving towards me, touch my chest and flick my nose.
I never really understood why it was amusing to them.
I didn't have much contact with this group, and avoided them where possible, but every now and again I'd decide to play with them.

They would ask if I wanted to play hide and seek, then they'd run off and leave me alone in the park, which became my most suggested game.

Or play foul football where they kick and hit the person who has the ball, then they'd all pass the ball to me, luckily I could outrun all of them except Bob1, I would pass the ball to him, because I knew none of them could catch him, I never really joined in with beating up the ball carrier, I normally stood around like a fool waiting for someone to pass me the ball.
Although I did join in with the "pile on" as I really did enjoy those, unless of course I was the one being piled on.
These games were mostly harmless.

They did pick on me a lot for having deaf parents and they used to call me daft and slow and stupid etc., but I used to take my strength from saying "And God loves me for it".

One of the boys from that group would take advantage during school, for example they would suggest things "dares" for me to do, like sliding down ice topless jumping off climbing frames etc.
I thought doing these things were helping me make friends and more importantly they made people laugh, it didn't really matter if I hurt myself, no pain no gain was my philosophy.

One of the boys had brought a screwdriver to school, the teacher left the class and he started asking people to come and watch for the teacher, nobody would take up the offer, so he said to me "Digs come and sit here, tell me if Mrs Elliot comes", I saw no harm in his request, he was going to be naughty and if I could help him keep out of trouble it was better than letting him get caught.
So I warned him when the teacher came, I had no idea what he was up to anyway he had his back to me and was squatting on the floor (unscrewing the grill on the stock cupboard door).
The following day the teacher left the class again and Bob3 took the grill off the bottom of the stock cupboard door, and stole some snaps (local brand of crisps).
He did this for about a week before the teacher started to notice, and he had been handing them out to pretty much everyone in the class including me, I couldn't bring myself to get him in trouble no matter how honest I was, which is what would happen if I handed in this packet of crisps I had, I was in a dilemma, I am not a thief so I wasn't eating them and they had been forced upon me, I decided to give them to a girl I liked (my current wife), and would spend time sat on the grass bank talking to her.
The headmistress had the boy she (correctly) suspected of stealing in her office, and rumours were that he was getting suspended, the dinner ladies (whose windows were opposite our class) had seen me sat on the table, and Bob3 bobbing up and down.
I think it was out of desperation that he broke back into the cupboard took out the whole box and put it on my desk and said "you’re not getting away with this, you’re getting suspended".
Knowing that the teacher was coming back, I had literally seconds, I grabbed the box and a female classmate and ran into the girl’s toilet cubicles.
It was a few seconds before I could hear the teacher shouting my name in the boy’s toilet, she then came into the girl’s toilet, and my female classmate threw her off my scent.
I then left the box in the cloakroom, and ran as fast as my legs could carry me straight to the headmistress, my teacher was already stood there, I had no problems telling Mrs Harrison (head teacher) the whole truth from start to end and the logic to my decisions (she was one of the few people that actually understood me, and knew that the bad lads are always taking advantage of me and papap who happened to be deaf).

Bob1 and Bob2 had set a trap by taking the lid off a manhole, and asked me if I wanted to play chase, I agreed and they chased me straight into the manhole, Bob1 could easily outrun me and I was puzzled as to why he wasn't catching me but was instead running alongside me to my left, and why was Bob2 running on my right, then ouch, ouch, ouch.
Whilst down in the manhole Bob1 picked up a brick and dropped it down the 8ft drop onto my head, I fell unconscious, I don't know how much time had passed with me unconscious, but I could hear them rummaging through some bushes where they had thrown/hid the cover to the manhole, they intended to cover me up.
I struggled out of the hole and they both looked at me in shock as the blood ran down my face, I ran home as fast as I could, they'd given me my second scar.

When I moved house it was a totally different scenario, I thought I was free from all the bullying. At the weekends I would go back to my nans, and noticed a huge difference in the way this group of lads were acting.
They were now robbing cash and carries, and burgling people’s houses, and the format in which they took advantage of me became dangerous.

Another of the lads called Bob1 had a vicious Doberman named Sue, I would be sat on the park alone contemplating things and the gang would come and play a game where they wound the dog up and set it free, I later found out from Bob1 that they intended for the Dog to attack me and showed guilt for his actions, but to me it was just a bit of fun the dog had nothing personal against me and went for the others just as much.
Luckily the Dog wasn't fussy about who it ragged and even Bob1 would find himself climbing up the basketball court fencing.
This scenario happened a few times, trying to outrun the dog and climb the fencing with it snapping at my heels.
It would then chase the other boys, which to me was amusing, and felt like I was part of a game, where everyone ran from the beast.
The game stopped when one of the other boys got caught by the dog and hurt badly, to which he went on to have his friends dog put down, I always felt sorry for that dog, it didn't stand a chance.

They once took me onto the roof of Hyde park flats and "dared" me to balance along the edges and ledges, and jump across the corner sections with a huge drop below, I have never really had a fear of heights and was confident in my abilities, if I thought it was possible then I would make an attempt. I didn't see danger, I just saw how it could be possible, and being a bit of an adrenaline junkie if I thought I could do it, I did it.

Bob1 told me that they had me doing that because they were hoping I'd fall and splat on the floor below, that I wasn't the only person they tried to get to do it, there were others including Bob1, they just wanted to watch someone die, and I was the only one daft enough to try it.

Another instance was when they got me climbing from the second to top floor of Hide Park flats to the top floor, I thought it odd that they didn't want me to start from the bottom, I wasn't too bothered and was quite happy to do it, I'd climbed from bottom to top along the outside of the stair bannisters a few times, one floor wasn't going to be too difficult.
I climbed up the outside and reached the top to find that they had blocked it all up with an old bed and mattress and couldn't get onto the balcony, so I had to climb back down, they then beat me up for climbing back down, they wanted me to climb up to the roof (which was impossible, it was too big an overhang).
I can recall a few times where they had me jumping over walls with their "dare or die" commands and hurting myself.

It wasn't very pleasant and I try not to dwell on the many memories of torturous tactics we had to suffer from them, I can be thankful that I never received as bad as some others, Bob1 has since lost his mind and now talks to no-one, I often think that could have been me.
When my parents split up my dad and I ended up back at square one, I was attending a school where a couple of boys from the wybourn gang were also attending.
For the most part I avoided them and they avoided me, I was pretty much a loner.

One day they talked me into missing assembly and going with them on this "exciting ride" in the Carlton cinema, which gave me high expectations, when we got to the Carlton cinema it was a derelict building and fenced off, I started protesting but went ahead because I didn't fancy taking a beating.
The inside was scattered with broken glass, pieces of wood with nails sticking out, and in the centre was a conveyor belt type contraption running from the first floor to ground floor, it looked really exciting, it looked like they had piled up a load of ceiling tiles and cardboard at the bottom to soften the landing.
Without pause I went running off upstairs, and sat straight on the edge of it, I asked them if it was safe and they said "yeah of course we've all be down it", I slid down, it was really fast and I didn't quite reach the bottom, there were a few rollers missing near the end, and I managed to stop myself using that gap.
I'm glad i did because it was then that I noticed they had removed the cardboard and the thin foam ceiling tiles were covering a whole pile of broken wood, glass, nails, metal and would have done some real damage I slid through it all.
I got down safely and they wanted me to do it again, I said no but reluctantly walked back upstairs because I knew they were going to beat me if I didn't.
I then sat on the top roller, and I was thinking about how to get out of this situation, I thought of everything from trying to beat them both up to screaming for help.
There were only two exits I could see, the way we came in and the window behind me.
They started throwing bits of plaster and metal at me and shouting "Do It, Do it".
I refused and they started running across the cinema to get me, they were going to throw me down it, I ran back down the stairs at full speed, I jumped through the window landing on the grass outside, without pause I got up and ran, jumped the fence and ran back to school, I had missed assembly but was just in time for my first class, other than a few nicks here and there I had escaped unscathed.
In the meantime a neighbour across the street from the cinema had filed a report that someone had broken a window and two lads were found on the property.

During my teens it happened again, I knew a lad called Russ1 who invited me to his party; I was sat in Russ1's house waiting for him when two men turned up.
Steve1 and Beanie1, after a short conversation in the kitchen they asked me if I wanted to help them carry the beer for the party, I said ok and got in the car.
In the off license Beanie1 said "take that crate of beer to the car, I'll go to the counter and pay for it", I lifted the beer up and walked up to Beanie with it, who was looking at the cigarette shelf.
He said to me "take them to the car and I'll be with you in a minute" and then asked the lady for a packet of cigarettes, I started walking to the car with the heavy crate, put it in the back seat and got in.
Beanie1 got in the car shortly after, and we set off.
Within a few minutes we were now in the middle of a police car chase, I couldn't believe it, this Beanie1 hadn't paid for the crate or cigarettes, and now I'm being chased for it.
Needless to say when they stopped the car I ran away and hid in some bushes where i tried to get my head around it all, what was the point in that, this Beanie1 has now lost Steve1 his car, and there is no beer for the party, assuming there was a party and I wasn't just used again?
I never went near any of them again.

So now I've given a few from the vast archive of memories I have, how have you been taken advantage of?