Introductions - a thing of the past?

I went to the tough area, school cant be more specific than that as I still live near there and saw one of my former teachers, a doddrey old man of about 90 but I bet her could still wield a cane-not taking any chances

Sorry, Silverfish, yes I see that you did say 'thumped' and not 'punched'. My mistake.

Which area of the North East did you go to school Silverfish

One male teacher used to smack us on the bum with his cane, that was so humiliating and just as painful as the hand

Sorry. Couldn't help but laugh there.

Our Latin teacher used to throw the (hard variety) chalk duster at us. This made start sneezing and I was sent to stand outside for 'taking the mick'!

I remember the ruler (from the nuns) and the cane (from my mother)

I remember getting the ruler when I was a child. The teacher used to bend your fingers back - and that hurt as much as the ruler hitting your palm. She was cruel.

Another teacher (in the infants!) had a way of bringing her fingertips together and prodding us in the back with them. Really painful.

meant to say the way it was. not the was it was

"What on earth was the original subject of this post, cant remember."

That made me laugh out loud Silverfish.

I actually said thumped, not punched. One teacher in particular would thump anyone in the shoulder with the side of his hand if they were not in line for instance. Anyway its in the past-cant undo it but that's they was it was and they had no tolerance for shy folk. If they weren't ridiculed they were jst ignored and were left to slide behind with their school work. One particular lady had a habit of slapping us either on the bottom or hands we were all scared of her.
Im so glad that kids nowadays don't have to put up with that.

Originally you claimed pupils at your school were 'punched' by the teachers, Silverfish - not quite the same as the ruler-smacking, finger poking and blackboard rubber throwing that most of us had to contend with!

a typically meandering GN thread!!!

I remember having to go to collect a ruler from another teacher so that my teacher could use it to hit my friend. I felt awful, especially as it broke as she brought it down on his hand. i had to take to two pieces back!
I was an assertive child and try to be now, rather than aggressive.

we were hit with the ruler, slapped on the legs, poked with a finger on arms and shouted at if we so much as whispered to one another. I am so glad that todays kids don't have that to deal with. It was not considered cruel in those days.
I think that shyness to the point of crippling their everyday life is a mental illness.
Maybe working with the public has made me the way I am. I was called pushy by someone and Im not really. I just like a peaceful life. Everyone must stick up for their rights, I taught my daughter this but never to fight physically. She uses clever words to assert herself as I do.
What on earth was the original subject of this post, cant remember.

Trying to cure genuine shyness that way is like trying to cure a stammer by shouting at people to "Spit it out, man"

I'd say that school was a nest of sadists, breeding sadism into those who survived. Those who did not survive sank without trace. Natural selection? Survival of the fittest? Nature red in tooth and claw?

On introductions, if I am with somebody, and a friend [of theirs] comes over to chat, I wait a bit, and if no introduction is forthcoming I simply say 'hello, I'm rosesarered.' If my DD didn't introduce me [she does] I would then say 'hello, I'm rosesarered, mini-rosesarered's mother'.I think younger people are not so hot on introductions as we are.That's all it is.

Soutra is right. Your school was an awful one Silver to try and cure shyness by such a rough way, take it from all of us on here, that shyness is not a way of attracting attention. Now, there are some people [I grant you] that always take a back seat and want to let others do everything for them, drive them places [even when they can drive] and are content to let you go to the bar to order their coffee /drink/cake [and pay for it]I know a couple of people like that, but this is not to be confused with shyness, basically it's just selfishness.Shyness ranges from the mild to the crippling.If it's mild, sometimes having to do something [and managing to do it] can help you with confidence, is this what you really mean Silver?The couple of people I know are not shy [at all!] they simply prefer others to do things for them.

Dogs in mangers eating sour grapes?

What attitudes to meetup sare there to be annoyed at Silverfish ? Every meetup is different, it is a group of people who arrange to meet at a place and time that suits them, because they want to have one another's company. There is not a GN department planning a series of identikit gatherings in identikit places for the same clones each time.

It is not something that there can be a universal attitude to. Your attitude is that meetups are get-togethers of the idle rich who don't have to work and don't want you there with them. Others have different attitudes. I have been to several meetups. some were in expensive restaurants, some were for a coffee in a cafe, some in other people's houses - one was in mine. I don't recall anyone being a rich layabout or wanting to exclude anyone else at all.

Isn't it just basic humanity to try to.put a person at ther ease? However frustrating shyness may be in some situations, you can't cure it by being intolerant. But you can help a person to build up their self confidnce by kindness and consideration. I think the way your school responded to you and others was appalling and very damaging. If your little DGD encountered such treatment I hope you would be bangingon their door!

Try a bit harder to recognise irony, Silverfish.

I would never be like that, my little dgd, is the most important person in my life. Im digging out an expensive rose next in case she pricks herself. Don't judge people so harshly, Im annoyed at attitudes to meet ups and I don't suffer fools gladly but I love my little one and im really soft with her. Will teach her not to be shy though.

From your previous posts I would have thought you would have left them there, and let her learn to avoid them.

"Speak roughly to your little boy
And scold him when he sneezes
He only does it to annoy
Because he knows it teases"