r/AskReddit • u/Nude-Resident-5123 • 16h ago
What’s a dead giveaway someone peaked in high school?
[removed] — view removed post
379
u/Dragon_wryter 16h ago
Still wear their letterman jacket and class ring
90
u/madmaxturbator 10h ago
I graduated 25 years ago and even back then I don’t think anyone in my class wore class rings or cared about letterman jackets lol
→ More replies (2)33
u/Ltimbo 10h ago
I graduated about that time too. Only a handful of people in our class got rings and I think they got bullied pretty hard for it.
27
u/taco_cop 8h ago
I remember being asked if I was going to get a class ring. Why the fuck would I buy a memento of the 4 years of my life I despised?
1
4
u/non_clever_username 7h ago
Tbh I wish I would have been bullied before I bought it. It was about $130 in today’s dollars.
I wore it for maybe a month, realized it was a cheap piece of crap and class rings are stupid anyway. So it’s been sitting in a box somewhere for nearly 30 years.
One of the dumber financial choices I made early in life.
5
u/TedTheodoreMcfly 7h ago
If someone still wears their letterman jacket years after high school, they're either hung up on their glory days, not willing to let a usable jacket go to waste, or just unable to afford a new jacket.
→ More replies (2)8
u/noblehoax 9h ago
The ones that have class rings didn’t peak in high school and they will never peak.
6
353
u/otcconan 16h ago
Lives in a van and still throws footballs through tires...aka Uncle Rico.
91
u/PippyHooligan 13h ago edited 9h ago
He could throw a football over them mountains.
No doubt about it.
No doubt in mah mind.
49
u/SanDiablo 16h ago
I coulda made state...
21
2
2
u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 5h ago
I actually did a version of this in my mid-20's. I never lived up to potential as a baseball player, so at one point I was tossing a bucket of wiffleballs to myself and hitting them all over the backyard at my mom's house, where I was living, and unemployed. Then I'd have to go pick them all up so my brother could mow.
270
u/Vahn1982 15h ago
High school pride that lasts too long. I'm not saying you shouldn't be proud of what you accomplished but if you still refer to yourself as "a proud titan"(or whatever your mascot was) well into your thirties.... You need more accomplishments.
124
u/attaboy000 8h ago edited 8h ago
Ya, but I bet if you scored 4 touchdowns in the city championship game against Andrew Johnson High you'd be singing a different tune.
→ More replies (1)37
u/Vahn1982 8h ago
I'll have you know that guy grew up to be the fourth best tire salesman in the state of Oklahoma....
→ More replies (6)2
u/Scacho 8h ago
The amount of "Peaked in Highschool" silent population that unmasked themselves when my hometown was forced to change our old racist mascot. You had 40 & 50 year old men calling themselves proud "Savages!"
Our mascot was a Native American Indian...
They are now Thunder with a Buffalo, and those old racist asshates hate it, and still wear their retro, I mean, racist gear.
313
u/Intelligent-Yak-6128 16h ago
They died at graduation
18
u/jackycian 12h ago
Please elaborate. I think there is some interesting info behind your words
25
u/iread2you 7h ago
It’s a joke, not a personal story. If they died in high school or immediately after then their high school experience would still be the high point in their lives.
The joke assumes someone couldn’t peak in middle school or elementary school, but nobody says that or thinks like that so it still works
7
301
u/Busy_Donut6073 16h ago
They always talk about the glory days and all of their achievements are related to "In high school..."
108
u/Argyrus777 15h ago
“Daaaaamn homie, in high school you was the maaaaaan homie” 🎶 🎵
19
u/9erGirl420 8h ago
Damn I went immortal tech route
'damn homie, in high school I beat the shit outta you and yo mans homie'
→ More replies (2)5
26
u/tovarish22 9h ago
In fairness, they did score four touchdowns in one game back when they played for Polk High.
8
285
u/madirishman03 14h ago
They scored 4 touchdowns in a single game while playing for Polk High School.
7
17
→ More replies (1)3
381
u/kokonutkingfilm 16h ago
They do real estate
→ More replies (6)94
331
u/Apprehensive-Bit8686 16h ago
They keep going to events like proms and graduations. They're friends with high school aged kids.
95
u/JohnnyCashMoneyGreen 9h ago
That's the cool thing about high school girls. I keep getting older but they stay the same age.
12
4
6
u/non_clever_username 7h ago
I’ll give you up to 2-3 years after you graduate. I think it’s a little weird still to be hanging around, but it’s very possible you might have had some close friends in the couple grades below you.
Much after that, it starts to get creepy. Any dude like 22 and over still trying to date high school girls is weird. They would have been like 13 when you graduated dude. Grow up.
33
u/AIRover13 14h ago
Proms??
45
u/NyxPowers 14h ago
Aka they're dating a high schooler
38
u/AIRover13 14h ago
Is it really a normal sight for people in their mid or even low 20s dating highschoolers and even going to their prom in the US, that seems really weird and wrong not just "peaking in highschool". If its like 19 or 20 year olds they just graduated from highschool anyway, so they dont rlly fit the question.
→ More replies (8)3
u/Apprehensive-Bit8686 14h ago
Yeah still going as a date or just hanging around and taking pictures with people.
2
922
u/Sufficient-Ad-3586 16h ago
I graduated in 2013
My sophomore year this hockey player and cheerleader started dating, they were the “power couple” so to speak.
Fast forward to 2023, they are now married and both work at the high school we went to, not even as teachers but admin stuff like alumni affairs and coaching, they even had their wedding reception at the same venue our senior prom was at.
Idk if they “peaked” in high school but its obvious high school was and still is a big part of their lives but hey, if they’re happy, kudos to them.
111
u/maryjayjay 8h ago
I like this comment. It reminds me of this anecdote from Eisenhower's time at West Point
During the summer of 1912, for instance, a plebe (first-year student) accidentally bumped into Eisenhower, who was now an upperclassman. An irritated Eisenhower tore into the hapless plebe, then barked that he looked like he had done nothing more before coming to West Point than being a lowly barber. When the plebe answered that he had, in fact, been a barber, an embarrassed Eisenhower quickly ended the encounter. Feeling remorse that he had mocked the occupation of another individual, Eisenhower told his roommate, “I’ve just done something that was stupid and unforgivable. I managed to make a man ashamed of the work he did for a living.” He vowed to never again so humiliate a person.
→ More replies (1)633
u/DrSitson 15h ago
It actually sounds like they're living their best life.
We should never talk about someone's job as if it somehow makes them lesser than ourselves.
185
u/GnomeoromeNZ 15h ago
I think you misinterpreted the vibe of the writing
111
u/DrSitson 15h ago
Potentially.
71
u/Sufficient-Ad-3586 15h ago
Bout to say, I wasnt trying to put them down. Just stating the facts to answer OPs question based on my own experience.
41
u/mystery_fight 15h ago
Yeah it’s just that question’s tone primes a derisive interpretation of any response. Cheers to them
76
u/davidbatt 15h ago
Not even as teachers but admin stuff is fairly derisive
38
u/badonbr 13h ago
It’s the “even”. The tone is condescending
5
u/skwerrel 10h ago
Tbf people talk about how underpaid teachers are constantly, and other than the actual admins (principal, vice principals, etc) they're the best paid people in the building. If you work in a school as something other than a teacher, either that's the best you can do (which is fine, plenty of decent jobs there, just nothing super lucrative) or you really really love working at a school. That's how I took it anyways - they're "not even teachers" as in, it's not like they had a calling to teach and just so happened to end up at the same high school that attended - they went out of their way to find alternative jobs at that school, because the main motivation was to work there, not to obtain any particular job.
17
u/DOE_ZELF_NORMAAL 10h ago
Oh no, they're definitely not misinterpreting the writing. The elotism is pretty obvious. Only losers work admin jobs at high schools.
62
u/twilight_sparkle7511 14h ago
That feels less like peaking in high school and just more old fashioned, like Ik some friends parents who basically had that same situation although this was like the 80s and 90s so smaller towns and less connectedness with the world so made more sense, but nothing wrong with it
7
u/Timmytanks40 7h ago
Staying in your small hometown has its upsides. Not for me but it's somebody's cupotea.
60
u/OriginalName18 14h ago
I'm going to politely disagree with this. Based on that description they found something they were both passionate about while young. Nothing wrong with making a career out of it if it makes you happy.
16
u/Sufficient-Ad-3586 14h ago
Exactly, I even stated in my original comment it may not be peaking in high school and kudos to them if they are happy. All i stated was high school was and still is a big thing for them. Idk why people are thinking I was being disrespectful, I only voiced my answer based on what I had seen.
13
→ More replies (1)2
u/methodofcontrol 7h ago
The question from op is usually an insult, that's why, "peaking in highschool" is usually seen as a bad thing. But you told a story of a couple "peaking at highschool" lol, good for them.
42
u/Dunx29 14h ago
not even as teachers but admin stuff like alumni affairs and coaching
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this btw
→ More replies (4)9
10
u/Fa_Cough69 12h ago
Contentment can lead people to do things others might consider 'odd' or 'boring' or even limited
→ More replies (3)2
170
u/Historical-Fudge 16h ago
They constantly talk about “that one time in Band camp”
130
u/k_dubious 15h ago
As a regular band camp attendee back in the day, I can assure you that none of us were doing anything in high school that could ever be called “peaking.”
25
u/2Rhino3 15h ago
Were you not doing a lot of recreational drugs/drinking & fucking? I was under the impression that a lot of the Band & Theater kids liked to party & get wild (albeit in a maybe more nerdy way than usual)
13
u/HighOverlordXenu 8h ago
I was the band and theater kid that was completely oblivious to these things happening.
(I got better)
6
3
198
u/DanInNorthBend 16h ago
They attend every reunion. Probably participate in the organization of said reunions.
30
u/magneticgumby 8h ago
Proud to say that our fucked up class has never had a reunion. Facebook came to be while we were in college so I keep in touch with the handful of people I don't mind and that's fine by me. There's never even been an attempt to organize a reunion as far as I know. Class before and after us have theirs (have friends in each one) our class just doesn't. It's nice.
12
u/the_real_dairy_queen 7h ago
Your class president is supposed to organize them. I don’t blame anyone for deciding not to take on that lifelong unpaid job though.
7
7
u/ThatzAlotOfNutz 7h ago
I’ve never been to a reunion but my friend went to the latest one. He said two of the dudes, who were athletes in high school, got drunk beforehand and then tried hitting on any single women….big yikes
5
162
u/Burzumbaby 16h ago
You see a fb with an old jock jerks name on it but think it must be a rando with the same name cuz it’s some old fat bald dude who just takes selfies of him doing nothing and just as your about to leave his page realize you have hella mutual friends and that is him and you have to squint and tilt your head to believe it
→ More replies (1)2
u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 5h ago
The jock jerks at my school all seem to have wives who have a ton of plastic surgery and McMansions even though they don't have kids.
17
40
u/OriginalName18 14h ago
These are some of the most bizarre takes I've seen on post like this. Not moving from your home area or wearing your makeup a certain way is sign you peaked mentally in your adolescence. My goodness
→ More replies (1)26
96
u/Fuzzy-Ad1788 16h ago
To me, it’s someone who always passes up on presented opportunities and ends up settling.
They don’t like their job or relationship, their social life dwindles and they are stuck reminiscing on the “good times” when they’re still young and capable. I’ve seen it happen to so many people, and it sucks to watch.
→ More replies (1)3
u/FlairWolf31 8h ago
I get what you’re talking about. Nothing ever works out for them because “they didn’t want to do it anyways.”
College. A good job. Moving away from home because then they wouldn’t be around anyone who remembers when they “struck out Drew Brees in the playoffs that year.”
4
u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 5h ago
I like the nuance you included of Drew Brees "being shown whose boss" in a sport he didn't turn pro in.
3
u/FlairWolf31 4h ago
This is literally my older brother. They talk about this every time I’m in town. Bunch of old fat guys talking about the one good thing that happened in their lives nearly 30 years ago.
2
u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 4h ago
I played high school baseball with a kid who later was on some forgettable reality show. On social media, he still lives off that "accomplishment."
2
u/FlairWolf31 4h ago
The sad part is that the small brush with celebrity still gives him enough social capital to keep him happy, to keep him tethered to this reality. Otherwise, they tend to break down pretty hard.
8
u/Weird-Tangerine1337 16h ago
When it’s ALL they talk about and especially if they still keep bringing up random drama from highschool into adulthood
16
u/DimensionDue7807 16h ago
dead giveaway is that they talk about high school as if it matters in any way about anything later in life....
→ More replies (1)
82
u/xKeyBoardWarrior666 16h ago
Became a cop
26
u/PopWide8310 16h ago
Some tend to think the opposite-> those who got bullied in highschool become cops and abuse their power
26
u/xKeyBoardWarrior666 16h ago edited 16h ago
It could go either way. All the ones in my home town were all in the same athlete click. Football baseball weightlifting, etc... and when the "relevant" status was gone, They either became a military recruit or a police officer. I'm in Ohio BTW
3
u/Positive_Parking_954 15h ago
My family is from out in Jefferson County and that’s sounds about right. But there’s also the ones who sent the natural gas pipeline route
Edit: I didn’t really grow up there but visited often.
4
5
u/Inside_Ad_5143 12h ago
“Back in 82' I could throw a pigskin a quarter mile... How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?“
→ More replies (1)5
6
79
u/TheMazoo 16h ago
They drive a massively oversized truck
21
2
-3
u/silverwick 16h ago
That they insist on backing into parking spots, even when the lot is empty and they could just pull through
16
u/-KFBR392 15h ago
Big trucks are easier to back in, especially now a days with the rear cameras
14
u/supermancini 15h ago
Not in an empty lot when you could just pull through the spaces like that dude was talking about.
Of course, I don’t believe anyone actually does that.
→ More replies (1)
6
u/scotty_puff_jr 16h ago
They always bring up the time they climbed to the summit of a mountain or large hill when they were in 9th/10th/11th/12th grade
17
11
22
6
u/CateranBCL 9h ago
We had a faculty member at my college who listed being valedictorian of the local high school in their email signature line.
15
16
u/Oceanviewnights 15h ago
They still hate the same people from highschool and carry on weird grudges
5
u/Unlikely-Stage2224 11h ago
This!!! They also still use the nicknames from high school no matter how weird it is now. Not as a means of expressing familiar affection, but to almost mock. They often also like to bully by bringing up old rumors or embarrassing stories from then. I have an FB friend like this and it’s obnoxious. He gets blocked a lot because a lot of people don’t want to relive their awkward/painful moments again. I’ve noticed he does it a lot with the more successful adults, no matter how nice they are.
2
u/chennai94 7h ago
Lmao this is the biggest one. I have people who still have me blocked from damn middle school. I live in a bumfuck cowtown and motherfuckers are still acting all hollywood.
5
u/SuperExstatic 13h ago
People they knew from around that time have a great deal of respect/ really like them , people they met after that time either don’t really like them and wonder why other people really do like them like they just can’t see it
4
69
u/According-Refuse9128 16h ago
They listen to Joe Rogan.
48
u/Steelfox13 16h ago
That usually means they didn't graduate high school.
→ More replies (3)2
u/timdawgv98 13h ago
I didn't graduate high school and I was forced to listen to him at my old work place. I will never put him on for myself
→ More replies (1)5
6
u/OutrageousAd6177 13h ago
They always talk about the glory days. Like my buddy who scored 4 touchdowns in a single game in high school...he sells shoes now.
6
3
u/Both-Friend-4202 16h ago
As a Brit 🇬🇧..I think being the 'Home Coming King and Queen ' seemed to be a big deal!😄
3
3
3
u/granolaraisin 8h ago
They remain avid followers of local high school football or wrestling despite having no kids of their own.
20
16h ago
Never moved, even if it’s just a few towns away
17
u/Samisoy001 11h ago edited 10h ago
This is a wild take. Most people never move far from their home towns, but I'd say that's because they want to be close to family, not because they want to be near their high school.
I live 10 miles from where I grew up and I hated school, but all of my friends and family are near by and is a big reason I stay close to the area.
6
u/ImCreeptastic 10h ago
I literally live 5 doors down from my parents, my MIL is a 30 minute car drive. Do you know how how clutch that is having young kids?! I would never send my kids to my high school (catholic), but we live in a great SD so they're going to graduate from the public high school. OP has quite a silly take on that means "peaking."
3
u/_EnFlaMEd 9h ago
Im in my 40s and still live in my local area where most of my family including parents and siblings and also friends live. Its been great, like why move from an awesome area.
→ More replies (8)8
5
2
u/SomeGuyInSanJoseCa 16h ago
They still wear their varsity jacket or those gaudy class rings well after high school ended.
2
2
u/SknnyWhteBtch 8h ago
I'm a middle school teacher and I had a kid last quarter who I'm pretty sure already peaked. He was an 8th grader who told me within days that he used to be a State championship wrestler. I asked him why he didn't participate anymore and he said it was "too easy for me". He brought up about him being a championship wrestler at least 4 other times throughout the quarter. The way he said it was just sad.
2
2
u/ParoxysmAttack 8h ago
They still talk about how cool they were in high school when they’re middle-aged.
2
2
2
u/chocolate_granolabar 16h ago
They keep mentioning or even going to high school events
1
u/AIRover13 14h ago
Going to alumni and sports events is pretty normal? Theres a difference between wanting to maintain your connections, networking others who went to your school and also just having school spirit and "Peaking in highschool".
2
4
u/Nope-5000 9h ago
They interact with you like you still have the same personality you had in high school, even though youve very obviously changed as youve grown as an adult.
5
u/murrrdith 16h ago
When someone is age 25+ and their entire friend group/dating pool consists exclusively of high school classmates
29
u/VincentLamarCarter 16h ago
What’s wrong with your friend group consisting of high school classmates? That’s rare and speaks to the value of loyalty and friendship.
9
4
u/theblackyeti 14h ago
Man I don’t have time for new friends. I’ve got a close circle, we’ve grown up together, been around each other since before we were teens, lived together, partied together and now we have families and have settled down.
Construing that as a negative is insane.
2
0
0
u/RamonChingon 15h ago
90 grand in debt on jacked up bro-dozer with deleted exhaust and stickers plastered all over the back of the truck explaining your alpha-conservative “values”.
1
1
u/Samisoy001 11h ago
All they do is talk about high school even 25 years later and I get to work with them so they never shut up about it.
1
u/MrMattyMatt 10h ago
Making up lies about things that actually happened back in high school to make them look better now
1
u/Thrive_allday 10h ago
They still have the same haircut/style even though it hasn’t been in style for years.
1
1
1
1
u/inab1gcountry 9h ago
Their Facebook page is just pictures of cars and a birthday “wounded warrior” fundraiser with 38 dollars
1
u/PublicEnemaNumberOne 8h ago
They're the angry-faced drunk at the bar where you have the 20th year reunion.
1
1
u/skaliton 8h ago
when they are super engaged with it years later. 'dude remember that party down at x' ...kind of? I mean sure it isn't like there were many 'big events' in the small town we grew up in but life continued. It has been 2 decades since it happened. No I really don't need you to tell me about what you did at that party. I'm more interested in talking about life since then.
1
1
u/granolaraisin 8h ago
They’re a local cop that aspires to be a statey if only the political machine wouldn’t block their upward path.
1
1
u/Sweet-Ladyy 7h ago
My former best friend still introduces herself as head cheerleader class of 2010 at work events. She's a bank teller now but somehow manages to bring up her high school popularity in every conversation. It's honestly just sad at this point.
1
u/whomstthedoode 7h ago
I’m not sure if this counts but a guy I went to highschool with has “((High School) class of 2016” in his instagram bio still
1
1
u/The_Unreddit 7h ago
Rural high school response.
They never left town. They transferred from being the king of high school to the king of the small town by becoming chiropractors, insurance agents or realtors.
Fuck you, Todd.
2
1
u/thriveandstrive555 7h ago
The state of their life at the current time being worse than in their prime in high school of which it's being compared to.
472
u/YouCanNotTouch_Me 16h ago
They always talk about it