People Are Sharing The 73 Worst Things That Happened At Their High School Reunions

Social media is rendering high school reunions obsolete. Instead of meeting people, you can now just stalk them online to see if they turned out to be as cringe as you had hoped.

However, I don't think they will disappear completely. Real-life get-togethers with your old classmates can be really... memorable. At first, I wanted to say entertaining, but as this Reddit post by user Respect_The_Box shows, that's not always the case.

Asking graduates to share the worst thing that has happened at their high school reunions, it has received quite a few spicy stories that have enough drama for a 20-season TV show.

#1

My sister, my-now husband, and I were all in the same graduating class. Plus, my husband's best friend, whose name is something like 'John Smith' — very common. He was very popular in high school and a super-nice guy who stood out in a crowd. If you didn't know him, you certainly knew of him. Anyway, the 20-year reunion rolled around, and only my sister went. She called right after and was very upset. Apparently, there was a huge memorial wall for John Smith, who'd just died. None of us knew! It was awful, but then my husband was like, 'Wait, we just saw him?' He called John up and was like, 'Hey, dude, are you dead?' No. Not dead. Surprised, but not dead. It turned out the other, less popular John Smith had died. They made a lovely memorial for the wrong guy.

We still run into people, to this day, who see him and are like, 'Hey...aren't you supposed to be dead?'

Image credits: underpantsbandit

#2

At my 20-year reunion, two guys got arrested for fist fighting on the sidewalk outside the bar. Why were they fighting? One of the guys slept with the other guy's girlfriend in high school and drunkenly brought up the 20-year-old fling. Neither of them married or even dated her after high school, but 20 years later, those idiots got charged over her.

Image credits: pedantic_dullard

#3

My 10-year reunion was hosted at a nice hotel banquet hall and had a decent turnout — more than 100 people. There was one guy I'd known all throughout high school who was also a well-known stoner. I'll call him Chris. Chris walks into the banquet hall, stops in his tracks, turns around in a very slow circle, and surveys the entire room. He then says, 'Whoa...' and looks visibly alarmed. Once his eyes settle on me, I say, 'Hey, Chris! Long time no see, man!' He slides over to me and whispers in my ear, 'This is really weird...I'm pretty sure I know every single person in this room.' That's when I realize he's wearing the same clothes as the banquet hall workers. OH MY GOD. CHRIS IS WORKING AS A SERVER AT HIS OWN HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, AND HE HAS NO CLUE WHAT IS HAPPENING.
I walk him out to the front lobby and explain it's our 10-year high school reunion. He is mortified and beyond embarrassed. He was never contacted and didn't even realize it had been 10 years since we graduated. He just knew he was working another catering gig in a neverending series of catering gigs.

I make him take me to his manager and explain what's happening. I tell the manager there is NO WAY this guy is working his own high school reunion. Awesomely, the manager agrees. We find a different suit jacket and tie for him, and I take Chris back to the party. He ended up having a good night.

Image credits: Foo-Fighters-Fan

#4

At my five-year reunion, one guy (who was always kind of a marginal figure in high school but a nice person) after some sort of discussion, got his paycheck out and started loudly saying, 'Now do you think I'm a loser?' and 'Don't believe how much I make? Check this out!' Of course, that just made things worse, and everyone laughed at him. I mean, he had his paycheck on him? I haven't seen him since.

Image credits: kev_61483

#5

Not really BAD, but a girl who didn't show had her picture on the "in memoriam" table with a candle lit. She didn't really keep up with anybody and everyone couldn't believe she was dead but no one knew what had happened.

That's because she was, in fact, not dead and showed up about half way through, much to the surprise of everyone else. It was like seeing an actual ghost. While she wasn't real happy about it initially, it all ended as a funny story. Then she actually died a year later. Our 20th is next year and she'll be on that table again, but won't be showing up.

Image credits: [deleted]

#6

Some girl confessed to cheating on her high school sweetheart, thinking enough time had passed that it wouldn’t bother him. She thought wrong. This was our 10-year reunion, and the two of them hadn’t seen each other in years. As far as I know, they broke up shortly after high school ended. After she broke the news — somewhat nonchalantly as well — the guy flipped out and slapped her, then started screaming at her. She ran away, at which point he broke down, said something about wasting his high school years, and left.

We still managed to have a good time even after all that though, which was nice.

Image credits: BobMightBeCool

#7

At my 10-year reunion, the organizers were giving 'awards' for the person who came the farthest to attend, the person with the most kids, etc. The award came up for who had the oldest kid, and people started shouting out their kids' ages. When it quieted down, this shy girl near the front said in a normal voice, 'Eleven.' We all then realized why we'd stopped seeing Heather right before graduation.

Image credits: InfinitePizzazz

#8

The people who were supposed to plan our reunion dropped the ball, so this other dude stepped up. He was in grad school and working at a banquet hall, so his boss offered the space for free. It was a really nice gesture, and he seemed really into it. He had been miserable in high school — grumpy, sullen, unpleasant, and mean. He came out in college, so maybe the weight of keeping his sexuality secret was part of why he was unpleasant. Anyway, he created a Facebook event and asked people to Venmo him the $15–$20 cost of admission prior to attending. I sent him a private message asking what that covered. Food? Drinks? The space was free, after all. He then posted publicly that if the cost was too steep, 'Message [him] to work out financial aid.' What? I then publicly posted asking what the cost covered, and others began asking, too. He said it'd go toward a bartender and server dedicated to the event space, as well as food. OK, fair. Folks, HE WAS THE SERVER.

I was working a shit job and had no savings at the time, so I was neither interested in having my former classmates pity me nor gunning to shell out money to attend. Plus, my shitty ex might be there, and that didn't feel worth it. My friend showed up having not yet paid him, and he barred her entry.

The people who had paid the admission cost showed up to an empty banquet hall, where he gave them a menu and told them to order their own food and drink from him. He then pocketed the admission ticket money as his fee. After an hour, he brought out one grocery store sheet cake for 75 people to share. That was it.

Image credits: SaltWafer

#9

One of my friends got someone pregnant back in the day, and she kept the kid. They've both been great about it — he helps financially, but that was the extent of his contribution. She married soon out of high school and met a great guy who has been the de facto dad. Either way, the reunion was held during the day, and they let you bring your kids. Well, someone let slip that my friend is that kid's 'real' dad, and the kid heard it. It was a fucking shit show.

Everyone was trying to figure out who said that, how someone could spill that secret, etc. In the end, my friend pretended he was shocked and laughed it off as a joke. Honestly, in front of the kid, it was probably a good move.

Image credits: Toubaboliviano

#10

During our reunion, it came out — over alcohol — that a social group of 'cool people' had all been having orgies together during high school...except for one of them. He had always seemed like a core member of the group from the outside, but for some reason, he was never clued in to the fact that all of his friends were fucking each other en masse for basically as long as they've known each other. There was some very eye-opening, loud screaming.

Image credits: imariaprime

#11

I got invited to my 5yr a few years back. I went to a pretty hick school and my graduating class was like 90 people. I didn’t attend because I hated almost everyone I went to school with but I kept getting added to the group chat every time I’d leave it, eventually blocked them all. Apparently that whole reunion was a shit show, I foundout from a friend who did decide to go last minute. They had a big ass bonfire out in the middle of nowhere and the “cool” kids from high school decided to smoke everyone out while showing off their big ass diesel trucks. From what Ive was told was that most everyone got incredibly fucked up and a bunch of them decided to start shooting guns intoxicated. The only other notable thing that happened was one of the “cool” guys who was fucking stupid in high school thought it’d be a great idea to toss a full propane container into the bonfire. As soon as my friend saw him tossing it in he immediately decided to leave. I have no idea if anybody got hurt or not but I bet people did. 5 years is not enough time to change anybody and I will NEVER attend a class reunion.

For everyone asking I live in the Pacific Northwest

Image credits: ThatOneDudeWithAName

#12

We learned that the woman who was arranging it all was using the info to fish for new members for the NXIVM cult, saying it was a self improvement group.

Image credits: Curleysound

#13

Not mine, but my mother went back to her 40 year reunion last summer. In December she left my father (36 years of marriage) for her high school sweetheart and is now living with him.

#14

Small college reunion with my core group of friends from university. This was about 5 years after graduation. We all partied pretty hard in school, but mellowed out in our late twenties. Decided to all meet up for dinner at a local bar/restaurant. Think Applebees, but nicer.

One guy showed up already wasted, with a duffle bag full of multiple packets of weed and the bottle he started on before meeting us. He decided we were boring, finished his bottle in the restroom, and refused to come out. He ended up passing out there.

Bartender kicked him out. He came alone in an uber, and we had no idea where he lived. None of us wanted to take him to our places (he was angry, puking and belligerent), so we dropped him off at his last known address.

His parents' house.

Both of them answered the door, and we handed him over. It was past midnight and incredibly awkward.

He's not invited to the next reunion.

Image credits: tallmatcha

#15

It was a fun time to start. Two people got caught shaggin in the bathroom and for some reason word got around that it was a different dude than it actually was. That dude (the wrongfully accused) decides to throw and shatter a glass mug on the ground on the way out, and next thing you know, we're all getting kicked out of the venue. The party continued at a different bar like 20 miles away.

Image credits: Lumba

#16

Middle school, not high school. Me and a friend went exploring the school, went into the library which was being renovated, found an abandoned hallway, climed a ladder to reach a walkway over the ceiling of the gym, with a stairway leading somewhere we didn't think was even part of the building, opened the door to find... asbestos. Just a fucking lot of asbestos. I don't even know what the room was, it just started falling like snow when we opened the door and then my friend said "hey, theres a sign that says WARNING: ASBESTOS. Maybe this stuff is asbestos?"

And thats the story of how I got mesothelioma, probably

#17

A guy tried to impress everyone by showing us a magic trick (one where there’s a blade behind numerous cups) he proceeded to guess where the blade was not, rammed his hand down a cup and ended up stabbing himself. After he stabbed himself, he froze and fainted, causing more injury. He’s fine now.

Image credits: BernardoRabago

#18

My buddy took a headbutt to the face from a kid he used to bully... so that was awesome

#19

We had a teacher in high school that told us "by the time you reach your 10-year reunion, at least one of your classmates will have died" during a discussion about mortality. Ten-year reunion arrives and nobody from our class has died.

Saturday night of the reunion we're partying and having a good old time. One of the organizers gets up to the microphone and is making some announcements, she gets a blank look on her face and drops to the floor.

Brain aneurysm, she was dead before she hit the floor.

Image credits: ndphoto

#20

This guy slammed some warn Natty Light during beer pong, then held his wrist up to this mouth as if it were coming back up, and then he projectile vomited. The best part is that all of it somehow SHOT forcefully from his fingers like Spiderman and we WEBBED everyone on that side of the room with vomit. It was full of cooked onions. It was amazing.

Image credits: [deleted]

#21

We'd been there less than an hour. Having a great time reconnecting. Suddenly an old friend approached and said, "Is that your wife over there? She's pretty hammered" And as we watched, she tripped and fell face-first, full body crash onto a 12 top table where many of my old classmates were sitting.

The table broke, food and drinks flew everywhere, I walked over, scooped her up and half-carried/half-walked her out the door. She took xanax before going (unbeknownst to me) and was an alcoholic who started slamming drinks as soon as she got there. So... Good Times...

Image credits: ImVerySerious

#22

This guy who was so snooty back in high school had arrived late for the dinner portion of our reunion. All of the seats at his old friends' table were already taken, so he sullenly sat down with the likes of us. I took pity on him because most people at the table ignored him and started asking him questions, like how he's fared since graduation. The DJ was blasting music, so everyone was yelling over the table to be heard. I asked him what he was doing now, and he said that he worked at a law firm. I said, 'That's impressive. Are you a lawyer or studying to be a lawyer?' He said that he was 'working on it,' so I asked what he did now at the firm. I kid you not — it was a movie moment. The DJ cut the music so the MC could make an announcement just as this guy — who'd been getting frustrated with my questions — shouted back, 'I'm a mailroom clerk!' Everyone stared. I hate to say this, but accidental justice was served. He was taken down a peg or two by his own hands.

Image credits: OneRaisedBrow

#23

It wasn't really bad, just odd. A guy came with full Kiss-style makeup on — white face, black shapes around his eyes, and black lips. We were too awkward and polite to mention it, so everyone just chatted with him as though it was completely normal to turn up like that.

Image credits: Fall_On_Me

#24

I didn't go to my 10 year but my entire friend group did and they all called me asking where i was.

While on the phone with one of them, he goes "oh shit, Brittany is here".

Brittany was a train wreck in highschool and apparently hadn't changed in 10 years. She proceeded to get trashed, get in a fight with a waitress and did meth in the bathroom. Police picked her up that night after she was found her passed out in the McDonald's bathroom.

Image credits: Ol_Man_Rambles

#25

idiot jumped the bar to steal tips and got tackled by an off duty classmate

#26

it was a 5th year reunion. one of my former classmates attended with his girlfriend but then he disappeared and had left her alone almost the entire time just to find him balls deep in Miss Musa, our ex English teacher. shit went down and end of the fight he left with Miss Musa and let the girl leave alone. My friends and I felt so bad we followed her and gave her girl advice. apparently they've been sleeping together since 10th grade. Miss Musa was like 5 years older than us. they are still together, both shitty people i guess.

#27

Unofficial reunion. Essentially all the people who could stand eachother coming together to get drunk and have a good time.

One of the wives vomited on the host due to alcohol poisoning. I think its the last time I've ever seen anyone except my life long friends (2) from highschool. Its been nice.

#28

At my 20 year, two guys showed up with rented "escorts". One guy had been pretty popular and was pretty nice, if not a bit wild, in high school. The other guy was a hanger-on to the popular crowd whom I barely remember.

Both of them had really SIGNIFICANTLY let themselves go and looked like crap, yet they were strutting around with these girls that looked young enough to be their daughters. The girls seem disgusted by them but were obviously playing the part for which they would be paid.

The guys both proceeded to get drunk and brag about how successful they are and how they were fucking these girls. It was very cringe worthy.

It was held at a local small winery, so the venue was simple but nice. The rest of us had a good time, though, and laughed about the guys and their "friends".

#29

I had just had my baby a few months before and another girl had just had twins around the same time as me. She was super coked up and drunk and wouldn’t stop crying to me about how she was so jealous of how good of a mom I was to my daughter.

Sat her down and told her about suffering from Depression and anxiety after having my daughter and that it’s okay to not have it all together.

#30

Not me but a high school reunion that I waited on in a restaurant. It's about 20 ladies, and there's one woman who is kind of odd, but nice. She orders a glass of wine, but no food, and I'm not really paying too much attention, but all of a sudden she is gone. The women are reassuring themselves that they did nothing wrong and it was no one's fault. When it's about time to pay bills, I have hers but she's still MIA. The women look surprised and say, "She's not still here?" I finally find her in the bar by herself. She pays the bill along with her bar tab and leaves really awkwardly. Turns out that what happened is that she accidentally got put on the email list for the class reunions and showed up even though it wasn't her class. When the women asked which Debbie she was, because no one could remember her, she got really upset and stormed off. The women said she didn't even have a Facebook picture on her profile or anything, so when they tried to look her up that didn't help either. And the weirdest part is that she did this at the last reunion, too, the exact same thing.

#31

My 20-year reunion. I saw our class president, who married his high school sweetheart. We were all really close as a class, and she wasn't there, which was really uncharacteristic. I asked him where she was. He said, "Don't ask."

I was kinda confused by that, but hey. They had been married a long time at that point and I just figured maybe they had a fight or something.

Welp, I found out not too long after that I was the last person in our class of about 150 people to hear she had tried to commit suicide by throwing herself off a bridge. She broke just about every bone in her body. They have two kids together. It was awful. She had some underlying mental health issues nobody really knew about.

She's OK now after multiple surgeries and lots of therapy, but fuck I still cringe thinking about asking him about her. Can't believe nobody told me about what happened to her.

#32

My 10-year reunion killed itself before it happened. Turns out our class president — who is traditionally in charge of organizing — took a hard turn into a Footloose character after high school. No alcohol was allowed, not even BYOB. A few classmates in a reasonably successful band offered to play for free, but she was adamant that there'd be no music or dancing. Plus-ones were for spouses only. Two guys happily told her they'd bring their husbands, and she kicked them out from the Facebook page. The food would be catered from a grocery store whose food is actually OK, but tickets were $60. It was ultimately canceled because, out of our class of 300, less than 10 people bought tickets.

The venue was the high school's soccer field. In Iowa. In August. We were welcome to bring our own chairs. A few people then offered to bring beanbags and bocce and similar games. She said no because it would make the reunion 'too much like tailgating.' Instead, she suggested the entertainment be a guided tour of the school, which had undergone zero changes since we graduated.

Image credits: kenjiandco

#33

Former Valedictorian (who was pregnant at the time) did drugs (I think meth) in the bathroom. Then she got it into her head that the reason her husband was trying to get her to leave early was because he was trying to hook up with some other lady that was there. She refused to leave, but some of her friends and husband got her to go outside to cool off or something.

Two hours later, she got called up to this collapsible stage thing for a speech. She went off on everyone. Every dirty little secret or rumor from high school, she just vomited it up - aired out everyone's dirty laundry. A lot of relationships that had been together since high school got in fights that night thanks to her. I had been a transfer student my senior year, doing partial independent study so she and I have only had one class together which I failed out of for sleeping through it all year - basically she didn't even know who I was. But all the big "popular kids" got dragged . It was like watching a train wreck.

#34

One of my old classmates kept grabbing my ass and coming up behind me and hugging me. Literally didn’t flirt with him prior or anything. We had just talked about how I had recently gotten married and had a baby, he was just recently divorced. It was awkward but I did twist him had and told him to never touch me again after I finally got the confidence. I’m a former victim of sexual abuse

#35

Really drunk dude fell through a coffee table and broke it in half. Actually, that was the best thing really.

#36

Some girl brought her ex Mrs America 19-whatever mom to the party and she went on to everyone about how shocking it was about how pretty I’d gotten (20 at the time). I loved being reminded how fat I used to be by white trash in juicy sweats.

#37

It turns out after 20 years the douchey nerd is even douchier as a paunchy drunk. He started making super racist and sexist comments to an Asian classmate and had to be thrown out.

#38

A close classmate of mine died before the reunion. I think they had his picture in a frame on a table. It was either that or reminiscing with fellow classmates that led me to uncontrollably sobbing in the arms of a woman I hadn’t seen since I was 18. I had to excuse myself and cry in a bathroom stall for then next 10 minutes. Yes, alcohol was involved.

#39

Last year a woman ran in screaming “SUP MOTHER FUCKERS iM BACK!!” While spitting in people’s faces. She was the “bad girl” in high school. It was later found out by one of her friends that was a t this reunion that she was as high as a kite on crack. She grabbed glasses of water and started throwing them she ended up getting arrested after someone called the cops. As she was getting arrested she bit one of the cops and started pissing on them.

#40

Sister's reunion, treasurer collected a pile of cash and spent it on drugs. No reunion.

#41

My birth-mother got drunk at one of my dad's reunions (25 years ago) and screamed at him and his ex-girlfriend from high school. She proceeded to throw drinks all over the two of them.

And that was the day my dad left my mother.

#42

At my 20 year reunion, some guy from our class made an offhand remark to a girl from our class. This girl...I always felt bad for her. She was always super skinny and pretty, had straight A's, great clothes. But her mom was psycho. And I didn't learn until after high school that she was abused.

So anyway, this girl's husband was drunk and got really mad, and started to make scene. She wanted to just ignore the original remark and was pleading with her husband to just drop it. Next thing we know, they're screaming at each other at the top of their lungs.

I later learned from one of her friends that shes in a really bad marriage. I didnt ask for details, but it still makes me feel so bad for her.

#43

I was a member of the catering company that was hosting a 10 year high school reunion. They ordered enough food to feed 250 people....15 showed up. We had leftovers.

#44

I was single at the time of my five year HS reunion. I helped the organizer with location scouting and price organizing as she had moved out of state. She was one of the better looking girls in my admittedly small class, and she came on to me at the reunion. I was too drunk to pick up on it at the time and walked away from her at the end of the night. I've rarely wanted to slap myself as much as I did the next day when the memories started to trickle in.

#45

At our 10 year reunion, a classmate asked my friend when she was due. My friend wasn’t pregnant.

#46

At my 20th two people hooked up. They had a 4 1/2 year old at the 25th.

#47

Someone confessed to me that I was his 'dream girl' at our reunion. Meanwhile, his date was his fiancé. I barely knew him in high school. Unfortunately for his fiancé, she didn’t know anyone there, and he refused to leave with her. He drunkenly told me, 'I’m not leaving with her; I'm leaving with you.' I told his fiancé to text me when their car was outside. I then whispered, 'Let's go,' to him, walked him out, and put him in her car. I'll never forget the look on his face when he realized who was driving. I said, 'Yeah, that's how tonight is going to end.' They still got married so...

Image credits: erineestevenson

#48

The High School I went to had a really big gang problem. A great many people didn't attend due to being in prison.

Some of those who were in gangs in high school had worked their way through the ranks...

One in particular was pretty high up, he decided to show up. It was generally peaceful, until somebody decided to stick him with a knife. Then all hell broke loose.

The dude that got shanked was a colossal ass to me through all of high school, and now he's bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds. Being an off duty medic, I did what I do, half expecting him to bleed out on the gym floor. He didn't remember me, there wasn't that movie moment between us. I doubt he even recognized me, I just kept plugging holes and thinking I shouldn't have worn my nice shoes.

Cops and EMS arrived, few people got arrested, he survived, I ended up tossing my favorite dress shoes and a really nice pair of pants because they were too bloodsoaked to rescue.

Image credits: Zenmedic

#49

At the after party, the one guy getting drunk enough to think it was a great time/place to discuss race relations with one of our black classmates. Well, not so much discuss as randomly impose the topic.

The cringe nearly killed us all.

Image credits: mindfeces

#50

10 year reunion invite came up and I thought 'yeah looks like it could be fun'.

I notice the venue is fancy restaurant. Disappointed, expecting some sort of party. Room is very limited.. for a class of over 100 you would think they would have picked a venue with over 25 capacity.

I start reaching out to all the friends I've kept in touch with. Not one of them is even remotely interested in going. My old high school best friend suggests we catch up at his and drink, instead. Havnt seen him in years so I bail on the reunion.

Turns out almost no one went. One of the girls that organised the thing was begging my mate to go, because she was so embarassed how little people had RSVPd. She ended up bailing, herself. Turns out for the 10 people that actually went (half of which organised it), they had to be split up, since they booked a place that was not intended for large groups of people.

Unironically, the same group that organised it took it upon themselves to organise our end of school formal (aussie for prom). They decided for themselves that we didn't want to go with the original plan and completely replanned it without really consulting the general student body. So many people bailed on it that they had to start inviting ex students (dropped out, changed schools, expelled - takes some real shit to get expelled from a Catholic school in Australia) just to meet the minimum capacity the venue required to move forward with the date.

Honestly, I know they meant wepl, but this group ruined the formal for a lot of people. I don't know why I expected anything good from their reunion.

Apparently the after party was wild, though. Someone almost got thrown off the boat (literally into the water at 2 in the morning), and a guy we know copped a dick in the eye.

Image credits: Gnemlock

#51

My husband invited the entire party to our home. The reunion was being held at a place you know; built to hold parties. Well the majority of the people that were invited came so we had 100+ crammed into a 2500 square foot house and a bunch of them decided to jump into our pool which was ICE cold. I was not pleased with my husband.

Image credits: [deleted]

#52

No one came.

I went to my 10 year. It was admittedly a really fucking small town, so my class was only 27 people. But only 4 people showed up and one was actually homeschooled.

It kinda sucked. I was looking forward to seeing people and travelled from a long way away (3000 miles). It kind of jaded me towards my classmates. I'm not angry or anything. Just a realization that there really wasn't any connection that survived.

Image credits: Fearlessleader85

#53

Went to my partner’s 5 year at the local Elk’s Lodge. He grew up in a really rich town, so it was super extravagant. Best part was the open bar until like 9pm and then cash afterwards. We were all having a great time until some scumbag snuck into the basement and stole a bunch of booze (literally multiple boxes). When the bartenders found out at 8:30, they were furious and kicked us all out. Ruined what would have been an excellent night.

#54

This one is just kind of depressing -

My 10 year high school reunion was of course organized by the “popular kids”. They girls that still lived in our small hometown and were past their peak. They are really rotten people - I was actually in their group until they started bullying me in middle school.

By the time our reunion rolled around, I believe, four, of our graduating class has passed away.

At one point they had us all sit down and they dimmed the lights for a slide show that was in memorial for ONE of our lost classmates, the one they were of course good friends with.

I was so furious I stormed out- maybe because I was friends with another girl we lost. But how self centered do you have to be to have a class reunion and at least not do some research and have a memorial for everyone gone??

#55

This was not my reunion, but my husbands.

In high school my husband was (and still is) a very reserved and quiet person. He tolerates no BS though. I call him my John Wayne. He is also 6 years older than I am.

We arrive at the venue, and everyone is mingling. All of a sudden, a woman calls out my husband's name and runs over. He introduces me and she looses her ever loving mind.

Apparently she had been in love with him since elementary school but hadn't ever said anything and she planned on asking him on a date that night. She has no idea he was married or that his wife (me) was 7 months pregnant.

She bursts into tears and starts yelling at me incoherently. Turns out she is living with bipolar disorder and was also an addict at that time which is why she reacted that way. We still choose to leave less than 20 minutes of arriving though.

#56

A girl took drugs with some of her friends, she started going crazy and kissed a random guy in front of his boyfriend before spitting to his face and yelling : "You small dick, never loved you loser". I didn't knew the guy but he cried and left the party immediatly with his friends. That broke the ambiance for the rest of the night...

#57

Someone told me, 'You're not a failure — be yourself!' So when I went, I proudly told them what I was doing these days: Working a $9.25 per hour job and going back to school after having gotten my life together in rehab and back on track. I was proud! Well, they all pitied me. One dude even tried to give me money. It made me feel bad about my current progress. I hate people.

#58

Sitting and having several beers and catching up with an old classmate on one night of the reunion. One month later the news broke that the same person were arrested for luring a minor for sex.

Turns out after they left the reunion that night, they went home and started chatting with the minor online. The minor was actually an undercover officer, and had been having conversations with my classmate for a couple weeks prior. This person had a family at home; ended up being sentenced to 5 years in prison IIRC.

#59

It's been a decade since I finished school, but I run into an old classmate sometimes when he does maintenance work in my apartment block. About a year ago, he asked if I was going to the reunion. I said no because I couldn't think of anything worse and also hadn't been invited. (Apparently, they organized it over Facebook, which I don't have.) When I next saw him, I asked how the reunion went. He exasperatedly explained that it had been a real shitshow. The mean girls had started planning it together but had a falling out, and then each began planning their own reunion. So there were about four, shitty, tiny, awkward parties, and everyone was confused.

Image credits: bubblegummustard

#60

I was one of the first recipients of an alumni scholarship from the class of 1999, and for their 20th reunion, the guy who organized the scholarship reached out and asked me to come as his guest to give a speech encouraging people to donate.

I live about an hour away now, but I felt pressured and thought, sure. After all, I got the benefit, why not pay it forward? (He also pressured me into making a symbolic donation of $10. That’s not nothin’ to me.) wrote a speech, practiced, wrote notecards.

Show up at this hotel and the party is in the front lounge. Swarming with people 10 years older than me. I find the guy, he starts introducing me and explaining what I do now- but he gets it wrong Every Time.

Ask him when I’m gonna speak. He says later and tells me to enjoy the food. It’s all meat. I don’t eat that. Disappears.

By random happenstance, in this sea of people having, you know, a reunion, I run into a guy who worked for my old community theater. I cling desperately to him so I’m not alone. He probably wants to, you know, reune. But instead he’s talking to me for an hour.

Find the guy. Ask him when I’m going to speak. He says soon. I ask where!I’m going to speak- I’ve just realized there’s no stage and the party is spread all over the lobby. He points to where the DJ is, and where everyone’s pictures from high school are playing on a screen. Excellent backdrop- slideshow of memories behind a girl no one knows or particularly cares about.

Another hour passes. It’s time for the group picture. Everyone herds over. I stay nearby to be ready. I am among the spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends. They ask who I’m there with. I say I’m giving a speech. They ask when. I say soon.

At an adjacent party, a band starts playing. V loud. People are shouting to be heard. It dawns on me that I may not give my speech.

I go find the guy. Ask, smirking, when I’m going to give my speech. He says, utterly guileless, that it looks like I don’t have to! But he hopes I had fun!

I get home at midnight from someone else’s high school reunion with my unused speech in my purse. Haven’t heard from him since.

#61

I asked a classmate about her husband. She told me, "he can go fuck himself." They just got divorced.

I asked another classmate about his kids. His wife left him and took the kids, unannounced.

The special ed kids got drunk and two of them started fight over a girl.

My high school ex got drunk, pinned me against the wall and jammed her tongue down my throat right in front of my wife and her husband.

Maybe not the worst night of my life but it was definitely interesting.

#62

The class officers did a 5 year reunion on Thanksgiving weekend at a local bar. They only invited who they had liked (30-40 people). One of the people they didn't invite had become a police officer who talked his superviser into running a DUI checkpoint. Almost half the people who went ended up going to jail that night. Two of the organizers ended up with drug charges as well as DWIs. The 10 year started off better, but still ended up being a cluster fuck. They decided to go with a picnic the same place we had our senior picnic. One of the class officers had started a catering company and gave themselves the job. About 1/3 of the people ended up with food poisoning. Thankfully covid caused our 20 year to be canceled.

#63

My husband's 10-year reunion was really sloppily slapped together. It was clear that the class was not interested in getting together. The venue kept changing every couple of weeks — updated via the Facebook group, by the way. At first, they were renting a place and getting food catered. However, it's pretty typical in my town for people to not go on to be successful by any means, so asking mostly unemployed or minimum wage workers to cough up $200 to attend didn't work. The venue kept downgrading to accommodate everyone until the reunion turned into a BYOB bonfire by the lake with no attendance fee. Two people showed up: my brother, who was the same year as my husband and had nothing better to do, and another guy who somewhat helped put the reunion together.

Turns out, throughout the fiasco of finding a venue, a majority of the class declined to go. There was initially a good handful still marked as going on the Facebook page, but with everything changing and people obviously starting to tune out midway through, a lot of people forgot to change their status to not going.

The girl that set the whole thing up was pretty mad about it, and the random guy that helped posted a long rant on the Facebook page about how awful people were and how they should've appreciated the efforts it took just to hold the pathetic gathering.

My husband had refused to go and instead had me sit and flip through the page after everything was said and done. It was pretty obvious the girl was in serious denial the entire time, despite it being pretty clear nobody wanted anything to do with the event.

Image credits: magicrowantree

#64

I went to my reunion despite high school having been a shitstorm for me. I was the self conscious girl who was pretty jumpy when someone would talk to me. I've long grown out of that so I figured why not go and see who I can talk to now. I spent the night talking with some people who I never talked with because of the whole high school cliques thing. It was a great time and then someone decided they were gonna get blind drunk. He started a fight with another guy for no reason and the two of them crashed into me and we all fell over into a table, breaking it in the process. I didn't break anything, thank god for being chubby! But I had some pretty intense bruising along my torso and hips. I also had a bruise going across my right cheekbone.

The cops were called and the drunk dude got arrested. The guy he picked a fight with was taken in as well, although not under arrest and I was sent to the hospital. I had to take time off work for a few days and learned how to apply concealing make up since I worked in customer service then. The drunk guy's wife was nice enough to pay me back for my hospital bill though.

#65

When I was in seventh grade, this bully, John, grabbed a wool scarf that my mother had knitted for me off of my head. He then threw the scarf into a pile of muddy leaves and jumped on it. When I went home that day, my mother was furious. The scarf was torn and muddy. She made me tell her who did it and then called the school principal to yell at him. The next day, John got pulled into the principal's office and paddled (back when they still paddled kids). At our 50-year reunion, John came up to me and angrily said, 'You got me into trouble in seventh grade!' I got him in trouble?! Worst, 55 years later, he's still mad about it. I said, 'John, you were a dick in high school, and you're still a dick,' and I walked away.

#66

Someone I knew from school tried to arrange an unofficial 15-year reunion because the school wasn't doing one. He was socially inept and would say and do odd things that people picked up on a lot — but his heart was always in the right place. He went to a lot of effort, but very few people responded. Those that did mostly made snide comments about the event behind his back, dissing the location, etc. Some even made fun of him personally, as he was doing some [things] admittedly odd. Close to the event, he cancels and blows up, sending everyone a (justified) message about how they can all go suck eggs and how he was just trying to do something nice to catch up with people. That was received with more snide remarks too. A few months later, he died unexpectedly from a heart attack.

Most of the people who didn't reply seem to be the more decent people and, coincidentally, the ones who have moved away or moved on in their lives.

Those who did respond were mostly the ones who still spent every week at the same bars with the same school friends. When it was canceled, they all actually went out the same night for drinks but didn't invite the organizer.

#67

At our five year reunion, one dude had a threesome with my best friend and another girl. Hardly the worst thing, but he was in a relationship at the time and I had to hear about the details of it from my best friend.

Apparently his dick was much smaller than anticipated. Truly terrible.

#68

Not highschool but one time I got invited to my college's alumni event. This was only a few years after I graduated and I liked enough of my teachers to go just to see them. Anyway we pull into the college and they have like ten bouncy castles set up for the event. I'm still confused.

#69

I discovered that, no, the popular friendly kids weren’t making fun of me, I just hated myself and was a bit of an ass.

#70

One guy had made not one but two fortunes and had a net worth of well over $100 million by our 20th reunion. He developed high-speed modem patents in the late 1980s and was an early investor in broadband, so he'd already retired. On our classmate update bulletin, he listed his occupation as 'unemployed and unemployable' as a bit of a gag. Some of the well-meaning but clueless classmates sought him out to offer encouragement and tips on how to find work.

#71

It was at a convention center and the college hockey game was next door. Once the game ended some drunk guy came in and started eating scones and went to the bar and pounded about 5 free beers before security kicked him out, he stuffed scones in his pockets while being escorted to the door.

I was never invited to my reunion but hitting that reunion after the hockey game was awesome, I'll never forget the taste of those pocket scones.

#72

I was at one not too long ago. We have a very small school so a reunion meant a handful of high school classes getting together at the new building for our school.

For a quick background, the principal at the time I was there was the daughter of the founder of the school (she was super old) and her daughter (who had daughters of her own) worked as a teacher.

Anyways, all three generations are standing 5 feet or so from my group and we were actively making fun of the old principal for being racist (she totally was) and I think we were loud enough to be heard. My evidence? She was constantly glaring at our group the entire rest of the night. Very awkward.

#73

I didn’t go, but I heard that only like 20 people out of about 500 showed up to our 10 year reunion. On September 15th, 2001.