[katastic]

>triangular slip-on sleeves separately

As someone who grew up in the 90's, I can almost guarantee you would get the crap beat out of them for walking into school with something like that.

Thank goodness they're integrated into the pen now!

[schwap]

As someone who also grew up in the 90s, all the cool kids had these things.

[Splendor]

Same here. Everyone was envious of the kids with nice writing implements...triangle grips included.

[clwg]

I was a teenager throughout the 90's and was a bit of a bully from time to time, and I don't think bullying has changed much since then. If it wasn't a pen, it was the shoes, t-shirt, or the way someone pronounced a word.

Bullies are bullies, they will pick up on any thing they can and exploit it to belittle another person.

[marzell]

My parents once bought me Mighty Ducks shoes from Payless, without consulting me, when I was in around the 7th grade; suddenly everyone at my school was a bully.

[_h_o_d_]

Thank you for your candour, and likely repentance. If you have any insights from that time, that might help HN users' [maybe future] kids avoid your mistakes, I'd welcome your sharing

[qwerty_asdf]

It's really weird to me that you've caught some downvotes for this benign and not innaccurate remark. I've upvoted you to compensate, but to no avail.

[katastic]

I love that even admitting that bullying exists, somehow makes people want to attack you.

As if I somehow endorsed it, or thought there was "logic" behind bullying, or that I wasn't the one on the _receiving_ end of the bullying.

We live in hilariously odd times. Better to pretend bad situations don't exist.

[JasonSage]

> I love that even admitting that bullying exists, somehow makes people want to attack you.

I love that a downvoting a comment which is construing an anecdotal case as the general case is considered getting attacked. Maybe you should just ask why people seem to disagree with your sentiment rather than jumping to conclusions?

[tpeo]

Being bullied for this? Really?

[kleer001]

It's a pecking order instinct. I'm sure even lobsters do it. The algorithm goes like this: find someone weaker than you, focus on any difference however small or imaginary, initiate pecking, preserve your place in the hierarchy.

[christoph]

So true. My nephew has a small mole on his nose. I never notice it, nobody in my immediate family notices it, but he gets bullied at school over it, to the point he wants it surgically removed. He’s six.

[apk-d]

Worst thing is, the bullies don't care about it either. They just need an excuse. It's hard to believe how ruthless kids can be to each other. School was forever ago, but I still don't miss it.

[katastic]

Yeah. I'm sincerely glad that the majority of people here somehow have never lived in a world where that exists. But I (and many others) were not so fortunate.

I mean, where do people think all those pocket protector nerd jokes came from? Thin air? Or--dare I provoke more downvotes--was it because people were bullied for having them?

I'm not _endorsing_ bullying by simply acknowledging scenarios where it exists. I kind of miss the 90's even more now. Because it was acceptable to talk about, and sing about on the radio; the darker things of life like getting bullied, being a failure, being used in a relationship "I'm just a suck'er with no self-esteeem! ohh wayyy ohhhh", and so on.

[falcolas]

Bullies don't typically need much of a reason. Having something that they don't is usually enough.