No one ever said that middle schoolers make the best decisions, but to be fair, their brains aren’t terribly developed in that area, so it’s expected.

OP and his family moved to a new town before he was to start middle school. He had a sister in college, a younger brother, and two parents that worked.

A long time ago in the far away year of 1999, I was a young 11 year old boy finishing my last year elementary school. Right before my birthday (which was in May) my parents called the family together for a meeting.

They told us my mom had gotten a new job and we would need to move. We weren’t moving too far away, only about an hour, but that still meant moving away from my friends and going to a completely different middle school then the one I thought I’d be going to.

Elementary school wrapped up and we moved to our new house in early July.

The busses didn’t service his neighborhood, so he and his younger brother were to walk to and from school.

In August, my parents and I got to take a tour of the school and meet the principal and some of the teachers. That was when we learned that there weren’t any buses that passed our new neighborhood.

It was actually close to the school so that meant I would be walking to and from there every day. My parents weren’t too thrilled about this but it was only 15-20 minute walk and there was a path so they came around on the idea pretty quickly.

At the time, both of my parents worked full time and 5 days a week. My mom worked Monday through Friday and my dad worked Monday through Thursday and Saturday. Trust me this is relevent.

Since my older sister was away in college full time and they didn’t trust me and my brother alone, my parents found a baby sitter to be there when my brother and I would get home and watch us until my parents got home (my brother was 2 years younger than me and in the local elementary school)

They had a babysitter waiting at home, but there were a few super hot days when OP called to ask for a ride home. They babysitter obliged.

The school year started and in early September, we got a MASSIVE heat wave that reached highs of like 96 degrees for a couple days. The middle school was also an old building and most of it was not air conditioned. I only had 2 classes that had AC in the classroom throughout the day.

At the end of those days, I was tired and not in any mood to walk an additional 20 minutes in the heat before getting home, so I used vending machine snack money to call the babysitter from the payphone (cell phones were definitely not used by kids in those days).

The babysitter, thinking he was just not letting me suffer in the heat, came to pick me up and I would do some homework before Batman Beyond and Pokemon came on.

I did try to call home two more time over the next two weeks when it was hot. The second time I got the sitter again,

When he got his dad, though, he was told to grow up and not call for any more rides.

The third time I called was on a Friday. My Dad answered. He was NOT happy with me. He told me it wasn’t that hot (85 that day) That I shouldn’t call the sitter away from the house and that I had to start growing up.

He told me to walk home and we would talk more when I got there. So I walked home. I got a lecture and was told to not call the sitter again to be picked up.

I said ok and told him I wouldn’t call the sitter or him again to be picked up.

OP said OK, and even when they were released early due to a literal hurricane, he went ahead and trudged home.

Two weeks later, at the end of September, a Hurricane passed through the area. Halfway through the day at school it REALLY started coming down. It got so bad that they let us out of school a half hour early, like that was gonna save us.

By this time though, a lot of roads were flooding and the line for pay phones was LONG. I remembered what my dad told me a couple weeks ago, so I walked home.

It took me almost 30 minutes to walk home from school that day and I was DRENCHED by the time I got home.

The rain was coming down so hard I couldn’t see more than 5 feet in front of me. The roads were so flooded that the only way to drive in was with a car that had 4WD.

His parents were panicking when he arrived home, soaked through, and his dad got quite the airing out when his mom learned why OP hadn’t called for a ride.

When I got home, both my parents (mom got out of work early due to the storm) were there panicking because they hadn’t heard from either the school or me. I just walked in through our garage, soaking wet and said “Hi Mom, Hi Dad, I’m home!”

After they got over the initial shock and relief of seeing me home. My parents and I had this conversation:

Mom: How did you get home!?

Me: I walked.

Mom: Why!?

Me: Dad told me to.

Mom: When!? We didn’t get any calls from you or the school today!

Me: Well, a couple weeks ago, I called the sitter a few times and asked for a ride home since it was hot. The last time I called, I got dad. He told I had to just walk home from now on and not call for a ride again.

Dad: I implied that there could be exceptions.

Me: You didn’t say that.

My mom turned on my dad and just told me to dry myself off and put my wet clothes in the dryer. I was drying myself off and I could hear them arguing.

It was louder than the rain! When I was done and put my clothes in the dryer, my parents talked to me and told me I was allowed to call home but ONLY for emergencies.

He got some special treatment as an apology and never forgot it.

The next day, Saturday, my dad took me out to Blockbuster and I was told I could rent up to 5 movies for myself!

He also paid for pizza that night and I got a whole Pepperoni Pizza for myself. That pizza lasted 2 days and no one else was allowed to touch it.

My Dad never lived that down. Good Times!

Reddit has to love this one.

Apparently he is not the first kid to try this one.

They say parents should be taking notes.

And kids do not hear “implied” additions.

You’d better make sure your kids know exactly what the exceptions to the rules are.

Here’s a perk that OP might not have considered.

This story just cracked me up.

Only a middle schooler in the 90s.