Is it unreasonable to be offended when asked to move?

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justnormal
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10 Apr 2014, 8:25 am

Throughout my life in school, I've always been seen as the quiet kid. This probably stems from my insecurities about my race and appearance.
(I'm a Indian who doesn't have the best appearance)

After moving from India to Los Angeles, California when I was 6, I adjusted quite and didn't notice the different culture until I was treated differently by others. I realized quickly that I was very different to others. I also struggled to socialize with others due to undiagnosed ADHD and OCD. This isolated me from others and increased my bullying.

Eventually I moved to another school and another where this kept on going on. I moved to another state and decided to start new but the differences still showed. Finally I went to England in 2013. In just one year I've managed to ruined my reputation and get people who I thought of as friends to isolate me.

Anyway back to my original question, a few days ago, this guy and his friend (one of the ones who thinks i'm weird) didn't have any place to sit in the back, and high schoolers like to sit as far back as possible. There was one seat next to me near the back. I could see in their face they were reluctant to sit next to me and then asked If i could move to the front. I told then NO, THERE ENOUGH SEATS IN THE FRONT AND I CAME HERE FIRST. And I know It wasn't rude, he is one of the jerks of the school.

We had 3 periods of the class. After the 1st period there was a break. The teacher said we can leave our bags and come back after class. I left my things and went for the break. I came back and saw toss my bag to the front where he was sitting. He saw me and said 'I'm sorry'

He could have done that to one of his friends who were sitting near me. The only reason he did that was he knew I was quiet and probably wouldn't tell a teacher. Also the teacher we had wasn't very strict.

This isn't the first time though that's happened. I can't understand why someone just cant bear to be near me for 180 minutes. I find it interesting how no one expects me not to feel offended by that but when I express my opinion on a particular subject, they feel like I've insulted them deeply?



Marky9
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10 Apr 2014, 9:35 am

I have had roughly similar experiences in my life. At first I took offensive, which I think is a reasonable initial human reaction. But I have found that, for me, "taking offense" is but a form of anger. Anger usually does me more harm than good, so I try to get past it and let it go as soon as practicable.


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AutisticGuy1981
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10 Apr 2014, 10:00 am

He's not sorry at all.
you are right to be offended as someone stole what is essentially an occupied seat.

If you aren't able to stand up for yourself then you need to learn to deal with it and accept it's going to happen.

School age people can be very cruel



Absinthe
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11 Apr 2014, 6:47 pm

You are very right to feel hurt by this bullying but telling a person that they can't have your seat because you were there first sounds very childish to most people. Just pointing out that there are pleanty of seats would get your point across. Telling him where exactly those seats are, may have come across wrong to a neurotypical; as details are very significant to and have a huge impact on neurotypicals. (They're weirdos too :P)

But I think you realize there's a larger issue here since you spoke about a trend in your life of others wanting to avoid you after a while even though they liked you at first.
It doesn't seem to me that the bully is what's getting to you as much as your struggle to see what aspect it is that others don't like about you. Looks and race, alone, don't account for the severity of the situation. Anger is a sign that you're hurting, just like sadness is. So what's hurting you about the situation and how can you make it better?

I don't know if that's helpful for you but I hope it is.



RubyWings91
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13 Apr 2014, 11:15 pm

You had every right to be upset. Sadly, it's probably not enough to go complaining to the teacher without looking like you are just whining (that is, if it is only a one time thing).

Trust me when I say that things could have been a lot worse though. I have had my share of bully issues on the bus in high school. I usually stayed up front to avoid it. There was one day I recall when I tried to take a seat toward the back. Students tossed things at me, including a bottle full of trash and a lollypop stick that I didn't know about until my little sister pulled it out of my hair when we got off at our stop.



Lemonade
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14 Apr 2014, 4:37 am

Recently my class at Art College were in a computer lab and after I set myself up on a suite that wasn't in use this girl who I didn't recognise from my class accused me of stealing her chair, and when I say accused I don't mean she politely informed me that she was about to use that chair or she had been using that computer etc, she just abruptly stuck her head between me and the screen and shouted the accusation in a blatantly hostile tone. Anyway when my initial reaction would have been to apologise she felt the need to extend the hostility further so I very sharply stated, "it's a chair, they're all the same so just grab another one, sorry to get in your way", my friend politely warned me that I can't win so I at this point rather angrily told him that I don't agree with double standards and then argued back to the girl that my class had booked out the room and that I had the right of access while she would have to work around what computers were in use by the group, telling her there was a whole row of chairs and machines that she was welcome to use. At this point she barrated me further which led to everyone in the class fixing their eyes on her, I then gave up and sarcastically told my friend that I would come back later. I spent the following period in the library after which several people from my class assured me that she was being very rude and that I did well to stand my ground. PS: my apologies for the wall of text, I am typing this on an iphone so paragraphs are awkward



WAautisticguy
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15 Apr 2014, 10:07 pm

I usually don't have problems with chairs. Sometimes I am disappointed when the teacher gets a "seating chart" because of just a few people's stupidity and nonsense in class. The last two moves in my 6th period have been to classmates who are funny and nice to be around, so that's a good thing.
And that's why I avoid the back of any school bus. I can't even sit past about the second row. I feel safest being close to the driver and being able to have a conversation with the driver - it's fun and makes my morning "open up" a little bit.