Have you ever gotten in trouble for something you didn't do?

[Chicken Drummer]

I think for me it was when my brother wrote on the wall at our home and blamed it on me

[Cosmic Janitor]

The janitor of my middle school came shouting at me and blamed me for all kinds of shit (vandalism, littering, theft of bikes, the whole catalog) with me being kinda baffled what the fuck he was going on about. It couldn't have been me, since I was with in a lesson and the teacher knew me well enough to get the janitor off my back. Turned out there was a guy that (very) vaguely looked like me (if you are legally blind..) in the neighboring class who was the culprit.

[Spectral]

Got a ticket for 89 in a 65 when I was on cruise control at ~71 MPH. I already had a pretty low opinion of police, that one was the death knell for any remaining trust I had in the system. Not a huge deal for me ultimately, but drove home the point that you can be accused via an outright lie and have absolutely no recourse.

[PC2]

Got a ticket for 89 in a 65 when I was on cruise control at ~71 MPH. I already had a pretty low opinion of police, that one was the death knell for any remaining trust I had in the system. Not a huge deal for me ultimately, but drove home the point that you can be accused via an outright lie and have absolutely no recourse.

It's weird that that's an issue in 2019 when we have the ability to cheaply collect just about any amount of data. In the cloud or locally. Maybe they should have the cops radars constantly streaming its speed data in a way that the cop doesn't ever have any control over the data collection. Then when you dispute it you could request the data and they have to give it you.

Basically like the cams on police uniforms but without the loopholes.

[Vargulf the Happy Husky]

i used to go to a chinese buffet in the mall with my friends a lot. well one day, my friends were there separately and i was at the mall with my mom and aunt. my friends dined and dashed (which we had never done before, at least not when i was with them). one of the people that worked at the restaurant everyday was walking around with mall security and recognized me as someone who was often with the group that dashed and blamed me while i stood outside a hallmark store with my mom and aunt inside lol.

you ever seen a mall cop get chewed the fuck out by a pissed off mom and her sister? it was glorious.

[Tziva]

Many moons ago, when I was in university, one of my professors approached me in an absolute rage while we were working on a project in the field about some pretty bad statements she thought I had made about her. I had genuinely not said anything about her and had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. When I finally found my voice -- I was too caught off guard initially to say anything -- I denied the accusations, but she said that multiple people had heard me and so she knew I was lying. It was a huge confrontation in front everyone.

The statements were things I never in a million years would have thought much less said, and some of them involved information that I hadn't been aware of in the first place (stuff about her daughter, who I didn't know). My best guess is that I had been mistaken for another student in the class who was dressed very similarly to me that particular day, in a way that wasn't common. No one spoke up on my behalf during the fight though, despite the entire class -- presumably including the people that "overheard" me -- being present.

My grade in her classes ended up being fair, but unfortunately she was a higher up in the anthropology department where I had been pursuing a degree, so there were other repercussions. I had trouble getting other dept professors to help me or be willing to wait list me for needed classes, and I was quietly removed from the department contact list and blacklisted from events, which included the regular archaeology digs that were the highlight of my studies up until that point. I found out when a friend asked me about carpooling to a dig I hadn't gotten a notification on. I blithely assumed it was an error and went anyway with him, but when I showed up she was livid and made it very clear I was persona non grata in the department. I was very distraught over the whole situation at the time, and ended up focusing my studies in another area entirely because I didn't know what else to do.

I don't really fault her for hating me and treating me that way given the awful things she thought I had said, but even years and years later I still find myself frustrated at having that rage directed at me instead of the correct source, and it having deprived me of an area of academia I truly loved.

/csb
//guess i just wanted to vent

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Many moons ago, when I was in university, one of my professors approached me in an absolute rage while we were working on a project in the field about some pretty bad statements she thought I had made about her. I had genuinely not said anything about her and had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. When I finally found my voice -- I was too caught off guard initially to say anything -- I denied the accusations, but she said that multiple people had heard me and so she knew I was lying. It was a huge confrontation in front everyone.

The statements were things I never in a million years would have thought much less said, and some of them involved information that I hadn't been aware of in the first place (stuff about her daughter, who I didn't know). My best guess is that I had been mistaken for another student in the class who was dressed very similarly to me that particular day, in a way that wasn't common. No one spoke up on my behalf during the fight though, despite the entire class -- presumably including the people that "overheard" me -- being present.

My grade in her classes ended up being fair, but unfortunately she was a higher up in the anthropology department where I had been pursuing a degree, so there were other repercussions. I had trouble getting other dept professors to help me or be willing to wait list me for needed classes, and I was quietly removed from the department contact list and blacklisted from events, which included the regular archaeology digs that were the highlight of my studies up until that point. I found out when a friend asked me about carpooling to a dig I hadn't gotten a notification on. I blithely assumed it was an error and went anyway with him, but when I showed up she was livid and made it very clear I was persona non grata in the department. I was very distraught over the whole situation at the time, and ended up focusing my studies in another area entirely because I didn't know what else to do.

I don't really fault her for hating me and treating me that way given the awful things she thought I had said, but even years and years later I still find myself frustrated at having that rage directed at me instead of the correct source, and it having deprived me of an area of academia I truly loved.

/csb
//guess i just wanted to vent

How cowardly of your classmates.

[Spectral]

It's weird that that's an issue in 2019 when we have the ability to cheaply collect just about any amount of data. In the cloud or locally. Maybe they should have the cops radars constantly streaming its speed data in a way that the cop doesn't ever have any control over the data collection. Then when you dispute it you could request the data and they have to give it you.

Basically like the cams on police uniforms but without the loopholes.

This was in about 2008. I don't know what data was or wasn't available, but I know that trooper seemed damned sure he had me for a speed he definitely didn't actually observe me at. I've just about never been madder.

[avitush]

Bullshit speeding ticket. I got one for (supposedly) doing 55 in a 40, several years back. Looking back, I think I could've proven that was bullshit if I decided to fight it. I was initially stopped at a red light. It turned green, and a few feet up the road, I got pulled over. Even if I'd absolutely floored it, my car could not have accelerated to 55 in that short of a distance. But that didn't occur to me at the time. I was young, and that was the first time I'd ever been pulled over for any reason.

I got various "HEY WE SEE YOU GOT A SPEEDING TICKET, CALL OUR LAW FIRM NOW AND WE'LL HANDLE IT FOR YOU" stuff in the mail a couple of days later and ended up calling one of them. They got the actual charge reduced to 44 in a 40 (instead of 55 in a 40). Expensive as hell, but since they got the charge reduced, that meant no points on my license (which meant my car insurance cost didn't go up as a result).

I'm 34, been driving since I was 16 (technically since I was 15 if you want to count the year I had a learner's permit), and I've only received two speeding tickets in my life. One was legit. I got in a hurry, wasn't paying attention to my speed, and got busted. Fine, fair enough. The other ticket was the bullshit one mentioned above.

[StillMcfuu]

Got a ticket for 89 in a 65 when I was on cruise control at ~71 MPH. I already had a pretty low opinion of police, that one was the death knell for any remaining trust I had in the system. Not a huge deal for me ultimately, but drove home the point that you can be accused via an outright lie and have absolutely no recourse.

You have recourse, go to court and argue it out.

[Flarelaine]

I did get in trouble for various assignments I failed to do.

[Monster Hunter]

Many moons ago, when I was in university, one of my professors approached me in an absolute rage while we were working on a project in the field about some pretty bad statements she thought I had made about her. I had genuinely not said anything about her and had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. When I finally found my voice -- I was too caught off guard initially to say anything -- I denied the accusations, but she said that multiple people had heard me and so she knew I was lying. It was a huge confrontation in front everyone.

The statements were things I never in a million years would have thought much less said, and some of them involved information that I hadn't been aware of in the first place (stuff about her daughter, who I didn't know). My best guess is that I had been mistaken for another student in the class who was dressed very similarly to me that particular day, in a way that wasn't common. No one spoke up on my behalf during the fight though, despite the entire class -- presumably including the people that "overheard" me -- being present.

My grade in her classes ended up being fair, but unfortunately she was a higher up in the anthropology department where I had been pursuing a degree, so there were other repercussions. I had trouble getting other dept professors to help me or be willing to wait list me for needed classes, and I was quietly removed from the department contact list and blacklisted from events, which included the regular archaeology digs that were the highlight of my studies up until that point. I found out when a friend asked me about carpooling to a dig I hadn't gotten a notification on. I blithely assumed it was an error and went anyway with him, but when I showed up she was livid and made it very clear I was persona non grata in the department. I was very distraught over the whole situation at the time, and ended up focusing my studies in another area entirely because I didn't know what else to do.

I don't really fault her for hating me and treating me that way given the awful things she thought I had said, but even years and years later I still find myself frustrated at having that rage directed at me instead of the correct source, and it having deprived me of an area of academia I truly loved.

/csb
//guess i just wanted to vent

I think You were too passive, Reading that. You should have taken the fight to them. And if they were insist ant on persicuting you in the face of evidence to the contrary, well at least get revenge and do something worth the persicution.

[Tziva]

I think You were too passive, Reading that. You should have taken the fight to them. And if they were insist ant on persicuting you in the face of evidence to the contrary, well at least get revenge and do something worth the persicution.

Fight? Revenge? No, that's ridiculous.

The professor was obviously the victim of some pretty malicious gossip, and her reaction was entirely justified given that. She just had the wrong target, and for all I know that was the fault of other students for misidentifying me and speaking up for me during the confrontation, and not her. I don't know who those others were, nor the original source of the problem, and there's nothing to be gained by starting a war with the other victim of the whole situation.

What would even be gained if I had escalated it at uni? It's her word against mine and there's no reason to believe some random undergraduate over an established professor. There was no evidence to the contrary, everything was 100% heresay on every side. Besides, by the time I even realised it was going to be an ongoing problem with the department as a whole (vs her just being mad at me in her classes), it was a semester or two later and those other students probably wouldn't have even remembered the situation with enough accuracy to be helpful, even if she could have tracked them back down.

The rational, pragmatic response was to let it go. (and then apparently just wait a decade or two and rant about it on the internet)

[Monster Hunter]

Fight? Revenge? No, that's ridiculous.

The professor was obviously the victim of some pretty malicious gossip, and her reaction was entirely justified given that. She just had the wrong target, and for all I know that was the fault of other students for misidentifying me and speaking up for me during the confrontation, and not her. I don't know who those others were, nor the original source of the problem, and there's nothing to be gained by starting a war with the other victim of the whole situation.

What would even be gained if I had escalated it at uni? It's her word against mine and there's no reason to believe some random undergraduate over an established professor. There was no evidence to the contrary, everything was 100% heresay on every side. Besides, by the time I even realised it was going to be an ongoing problem with the department as a whole (vs her just being mad at me in her classes), it was a semester or two later and those other students probably wouldn't have even remembered the situation with enough accuracy to be helpful, even if she could have tracked them back down.

The rational, pragmatic response was to let it go. (and then apparently just wait a decade or two and rant about it on the internet)

She bullied you, which even if she had got the right person is a gross abuse of her power and authority, she was a seasoned professor, even if you had called her daughter a ring whore it dosnt excuse abuses of power.

Every Bully has a back story, they all have a ictim complex over something in there past, but it's not and never should be an excuse, you should have fraught back, launched a complaint, gone public. When you let bullies walk over you, you reaffirm there behaviour to them,

You might be one of the very few people who get no pleasure out of taking revenge or getting justice, but doing so, especialy when it's from people in positions of power onto those who hae non is a duty in my view. Are you sure she hasn't repeated this behaviour since that time?

[Tziva]

She bullied you, which even if she had got the right person is a gross abuse of her power and authority, she was a seasoned professor, even if you had called her daughter a ring whore it dosnt excuse abuses of power.

Every Bully has a back story, they all have a ictim complex over something in there past, but it's not and never should be an excuse, you should have fraught back, launched a complaint, gone public. When you let bullies walk over you, you reaffirm there behaviour to them,

You might be one of the very few people who get no pleasure out of taking revenge or getting justice, but doing so, especialy when it's from people in positions of power onto those who hae non is a duty in my view. Are you sure she hasn't repeated this behaviour since that time?

We have very different definitions of "bully." She didn't pursue disciplinarian action against me, she didn't remove me from her courses, and she even graded me fairly. She did her obligation as a professional; there was no abuse of power. She didn't do anything that wasn't fully within her rights. Making it clear that she didn't like me or want someone of my nature to continue to be involved in her department doesn't make her a bully. It makes her a human. At most, the biggest complaint I could make about her was her telling her coworkers what happened so they ended up having tainted opinions towards me also, but again I probably would have done the same in her shoes.

I'm not going to pretend I don't find satisfaction from justified revenge. But there was nothing to revenge here. She was the victim of something, she thought I was the aggressor, and she reacted as just about anyone put in her situation would. There was literally nothing to be gained by my making a shitty situation worse, and in reality trying would have probably made things worse for everyone. Even if I gave absolutely no shits about her, I still am not going to do something that makes things harder for myself. The only person I have hard feelings toward over the situation is the person I am pretty sure actually said those things and that I was mistaken for. If I had known for sure they had been the source, this story might have taken a very different path.


(and for what it's worth, the accusations made against her were things that could have hurt her professionally and legally. It wasn't just someone saying mean things and hurting feelings)

I feel like if she was here telling this story about this awful student that spread some very damaging lies about her, you would be questioning why she didn't get revenge against me over it.

Anyway, enough derailing the thread with my own dumb story. This was a million years ago anyway; the past is the past.