Being a teenager is tough. It can be difficult to try to figure out who you are at a young age. Sometimes trying to act cool is a way to reflect the rush of feelings that take over you as a kid.
And it usually doesn’t work out too well…
A Reddit thread is asking people, “What are your cringey ‘I’m not like other girls’ stories that you’re embarrassed about or were unfortunate enough to witness?”
And some of them are tough to swallow.
Here are 15 times that ‘I’m not like other girls’ moments haven’t gone over very swimmingly
1. You wouldn’t know them…
In high school, 2016, I had a girl convince me that I was basic because I listened to whatever was on the radio and knew the songs. I have four sisters, so of course, I do- they didn’t like my music. Well, one day, I caught her listening to a certain band and went “Oh what are you listening to? “She went “Oh, you wouldn’t know them, they’re VERY out of your taste.” I don’t have a taste in music. I ask her to share the details, and she just kept telling me I didn’t know them, and that she was going to their summertime concert just to appease the metalhead boys in our choir.”Oh really? Where’s the concert?””Oh, it’s in New York!””Oh really? My dad never scheduled a concert there.”Her heart visibly dropped as soon as she pieced two and two together. I have the same last name as the drummer. The band is local. It’s my dad’s band. I cringed so hard writing this because I can just remember her trying to convince me I didn’t know my dad.
2. Why don’t you just take the stairs though?
Friend of mine started dating the single most dramatic girl I’ve ever met.
We lived on the 4th floor. We always took the elevator. So, we all get in to go down to the lunch hall, and she literally dashes for the corner and starts rocking back and forth in a really sad act at being terrified.He runs over to hold her and explains ‘She’s terrified of elevators’.
First, she lived with us, on the same floor, for two months and we’ve all seen her on the elevator acting normal.
Second, if you were really terrified of elevators, you’d just walk the 4 floors. It wasn’t even that far up.
Third, her acting was just terrible.
Of course, a few weeks later, she forgot all about it and went back to acting normal on elevators again.
– u/User1539/Reddit
3. One of those guys
In high school, I had this friend who tried so hard to be “one of the guys” to the point where she would call herself that often. I didn’t realize how cringey she was until I ran into her at a party in my 20s. She walked up to my boyfriend (currently my fiancé) grabbed his hat, put it on her head backward, then asked for a haul of his cigarette (she doesn’t even smoke) and coughed profusely. She then proceeded to play punch him in the stomach and started calling herself “one of the guys” again. A few of us just looked at each other awkwardly and slowly trickled away.
– u/87319496/Reddit
4. Chuck it
I was my best friend’s maid of honor a few years back and we were wedding dress shopping and this one quirky bride came in was like “Whatever dress I get has to go with my red chucks, I am not one of those girls who wear heels, I’ve always been different.” And the shop lady was like… “Actually, second to a traditional heel or ballet flat, chucks are a super common choice for our many low-maintenance brides.” And her whole attitude just deflated.
– u/sorrygirl818/Reddit
5. A little bit country…
Lady next door needed help breaking into her (probably not) sons friends car. She said she could do it with fishing line and I happen to like to fish so i had some braided heavy pound test and offered it to her. She pulls the amount she needs and TRIES TO BREAK IT WITH HER TEETH…FOR A WHILE!!!!!
Me: Ma’am thats braided line.
Her: Oh no honey I’m a country girl.
– u/p*wbsNb*wbs/Reddit
6. I am a girl that plays videogames
I am a girl, I work at GameStop here in Germany, so one might assume I am into videogames. And for most people this isn’t even something special anymore, so not even a thing worth mentioning. But we had that female customer who came into our shop and wanted to buy one of the Call of Duty games, I don’t remember which one. And with the straightest face ever she came to the counter and told me – obviously female – and my male colleague without asking “Yeah, that’s right. I am a girl that plays videogames. I love playing with my male friends.” like it was so rare and so special and she felt SO cool. Like so, so cool.
– u/pale_panda/Reddit
7. She’s a witch!
I took a community college ceramics class and we all had to introduce ourselves. The chick next to me introduced herself and declared that she was a witch, then cringe-bragged that she hadn’t been paying any attention bc she was busy reading a book on candle spells. “But don’t worry, I’m a white witch so I won’t cast any bad spells on anyone.”
She ended up being a cool and otherwise totally normal person but man, I will never forget her introduction!
– u/saltshaker23/Reddit
8. BRB showering
I’m 29 so I lived as a preteen/teen during the peak AIM days. Putting up away messages were the sh*t. Eating dinner with your family? Let the world know. BRB? Let them know! Taking a shower? Tell everyone!
One of my away messages for just that was “save water, shower with me” with the kissy face that had the little beauty mark for some reason. OG AIM users, you know the one.
I was honestly like 11. Literally had never kissed a boy. Guarantee I was also still wearing overalls, keds, and bucket hats.
I’m a 4th-grade teacher now, and I realize now that I was an actual baby at the time. I cringe just thinking about it.
– u/MissFox26/Reddit
9. Do you even know what that is?
I said stupid sh*t like, “I’m watching/listening to [dumb obscure thing]; I bet y’all don’t know what that is.” Facebook Memories is going to be the death of me. Good thing is that if you thought your past self was cringe-y, it just means you grew as a person 🙂
– u/whoople/Reddit
10. Who doesn’t love a good top hat?
I wasn’t like other girls because I loved hats. Top hats, specifically. For like a year in 6th grade I think I wore a top hat to school and I thought I was the sh*t. It’s funny now, but oh my god did I cringe for years after it.
– u/The_Hottest_Mess/Reddit
11. I’m just different
I remember being like 14 and this 16yr old guy asked me what my fantasy was, and I said, “Well I mean most girls would like to have like Prince Charming on a white horse, but I don’t like horses. I’m just different like that.”
– u/schweizerischmiss/Reddit
12. Oh geez
Oh geez. I thought I was a stoner after the first time I smoked weed. I bought this Bob Marley shirt I wore all the time and… rasta colored bracelets and I felt so cool. Passed out on a Rock Band drum set after smoking a bl*nt like it was a cigarette and decided that wasn’t the life for me.
>- u/deeznutz066/Reddit
13. I die inside every time
In high school one of my teachers asked everyone to say one word describing themselves and I said “Classy”. I die inside every time I remember it – u/streetsahead121/Reddit
Similar here. “Describe yourself with one word.” My response was “Bad with numbers.”
I personally thought it was the most hilarious joke ever. The teacher immediately moved on. No one laughed at all. I assumed no one got the joke. They did, it’s just that I wasn’t funny.
– u/IOnlyEatCandyCorn/Reddit
14. Wait. Your dad’s pirate boots?
I wore my dads pirate boots from when he went as a pirate for Halloween in like 1988… everyday to school…
– u/Princessrichard2023/Reddit
15. “Only listened to metal, always wore black”
I probably had most of my cringe moments as a teenager. I used to think I was cool because instead of using MSN or MySpace to gossip with schoolmates, I was on IRC and playing Counterstrike or Diablo 2 with my online buddies. I only listened to metal, and I always wore black clothing while decking myself out in chains, haha.
On the plus side with social media being in its infancy most of my blunders have long been forgotten or were never immortalised online. I still have some quirky interests I guess, but I don’t shy away from the mainstream either, and now like to think of myself as a reasonably well-adjusted lady. I think everyone gets a pass for cringey teenage behaviour/phases.
– u/immortalpinecones/Reddit