During our school days, when the teacher had to take unannounced leave, we got a free period to enjoy. But on planned vacation days, the substitute teacher would fill in, creating some school memories that are quite out of the ordinary. It all depended on whether the sub was a good or bad one.
Netizens went down a trip down memory lane when Redditor Dragon_King-88 asked teachers to open up about the worst things that subs did with students in their absence. The tumultuous response was not just from fellow teachers but students, too. While some instances are downright hilarious, others will leave you scratching your head and questioning the sanity of these individuals. Just scroll down and check them out for yourself!
More info: Reddit

Read More: “He Was Escorted From The Building By A Cop”: 30 Terrible Things Substitute Teachers Did

#1

I’m a little late to the party but here is goes..
I had a Grade 1/2 class last year and one student had diabetes. Let’s call him Adam. So Adam had a cell phone that beeps when his blood sugar is too low/high. It’s connected to the monitor in his arm/hip. The cell phone has no other uses, no apps, no data, not connected to the school wifi. The substitute saw his phone on his desk and promptly took it away as per the “no devices” rule. During gym class an EA comes in to make sure everything is ok, and Adam is visibly ill. Pale/sweating the whole works. Luckily this EA knows Adams medical plan, instantly asks the Adam for the phone and he explains that the substitute took it away in the morning. The EA then LOSES IT on the substitute demanding the phone. The substitute calls in the principal to reprimand the EA, then get reprimanded herself as obviously she did not read the students safety plans. She was asked to leave and the principal taught the class the rest of the day. Adam was fine, drank a couple juice boxes and had a granola bar. Mom picked him up shortly after.

Image credits: bookwithnowords

#2

I was a teachers assistant while in college. The teacher and I took a week long workshop and had a sub.

The worst thing she did.

Not letting the kids go potty. It was in kindergarten and she said all the kids going to bathroom were interrupting the class.

One girl wet herself. School policy was if kids under a certain age had an accident the nurse would give them a pull up (basically a diaper) to wear. The substitute proceeded to make fun of the girl for wear a diaper, calling her baby and such.

The little girl ended facing repercussions at home too.

It’s was devastating to hear about.

Image credits: anon

#3

Student here.
TLDR: Sub demanded I turn over my heart monitor in front of the class.

Junior year I was having major heart problems and had to wear a heart monitor 15 hours a day. It had a phone attached that when I had heart murmurs, it would send the data to my doctor.

I was wearing it and started having heart issues. It buzzed and I went to click send when the sub demanded I turn over my cellphone.

I started to explain why I couldn’t and she snapped at me so I lifted my shirt to show the wires and sensors strapped to my chest, in front of the class of 50 students. (Choir class)

Ive never seen ANYONES face drop that fast in my life.

Image credits: TKonthefrittz

#4

Accused a student of stealing something that the aide had put away. This was a class that contained some pretty rough students including one suspended multiple times for fighting and some gang members. She decided to go after a sweet, petite girl that never caused trouble and was generally popular with her classmates. This set off the entire class which is when the sub went ballistic and started wildly throwing accusations and yelling at said students. Security eventually got called and took several students out. My first clue was when the sub got my cell number from the staff directory and went off for 20+ minutes about how bad my students had been. This was followed up with an extremely long email and a two page written note on my desk plus a concerned note from the administrator about not having appropriate sub plans (she didn’t follow them in the first place and decided to throw me under the bus).

The next morning when I arrived at school, the students were waiting for me at the door. Once I got them calmed down enough to tell their side of the story, we had a discussion on how they could have handled the situation differently. I promised them never to get that sub again.

On a related note, I had a good relationship with said “rough children” because I treated them with respect and fairness. They usually behaved for me.

Image credits: Altrano

#5

When I was a substitute, I got a lot of requested jobs because the substitute pool was poor. One such example given to me was a substitute who would just go to sleep. I barely believed it.

Once I was teaching full time, I had a sub come in for a day. When I got back my students told me that he told them to leave him alone, sat down, and went to sleep.

I believed it then.

Image credits: tylerbrainerd

#6

Not a teacher but the sub made the handicap classmate who has muscle, joint and vision complications go grab his textbook from his home room. He’s not completely helpless but when it comes to heavy things, he needs help.

Classmates home room was half way across campus and the required book consists of 5 large text volumes because they’re specifically made for his poor vision. He can’t wear glasses either due to complications. I offered to help because I’m usually the one that goes and grabs it for him during normal class but the sub yelled at me saying he knows my kind and I’m just trying to get out of class. Sub told me he’s not there to play games and for me to quit it before he sends me off to the principal’s office. Needless to say the entire class was shocked. Classmate came back with another student from the homeroom requesting that next time the sub send someone else to grab the books because my classmate can’t carry it by himself. When my usual teacher came back we requested the sub not return because of what he said to us and did to classmate. My teacher wrote an email to the principal about it and that was the end of that.

Image credits: anon

#7

Gave out snacks I bought with my own money that I kept for kids who stayed after to get tutoring.

Threw out a broken electric pencil sharpener that kids broke in front of her. Which again, I bought with my own money and couldn’t get replaced by the company because I had no product to send back. I still don’t have a sharpener for my room.

Let the kids go through my things in my cabinets and desk. Lost a bunch of stuff that way.

Image credits: 29mick152

#8

I had a sub give out my cell phone number to my high school students so they could call me and give me excuses as to why they weren’t taking their test while I was gone. I was LIVID. I complained to the sub office, and that teacher never subbed for my building again.

Image credits: pi_rads

#9

Not a teacher, but in elementary school I had a bloody nose during class and asked to use the restroom. She said no and refused to let me go to the restroom (I think she didn’t “believe” me). I sat there until the blood had spilled all over the desk, then raised my bloody hand to be excused and only then did she allow me to go clean myself up. She even had the audacity to ask me why I didn’t ask to be excused earlier. Which was a complete lie, as she definitely heard me the first time and even the other students pointed out that my nose was bleeding.

When the teacher returned she was livid about what happened, I believe she complained to the administration to make sure the sub was never hired again.

Image credits: DDotJ

#10

Back when I was a teacher, I had a sub decide my plans weren’t good enough for her and went rogue. She decided to show my students videos of animals giving birth on YouTube.

I taught English…

Image credits: DrivingSharkBait

#11

I had left out – overnight – eggs that I was going to use in a science experiment the following day. I was out and thought nothing about it. I returned the following day and went looking for the eggs only to find them missing. Asked a student where they went and I was informed that the substitute took the class to the special education kitchen, hard boiled them and ate them.
I went to talk to my AP and was informed that the sub had called in sick for her job for that day, due to food poisoning.

Image credits: teacheroftroubles

#12

Left my perfectly prepped and neat desk an absolute disaster, did not follow the lesson plan and… took my gel pens!

Image credits: Mme_O

#13

I had a cool Chinese Lucky Cat that went missing after I had a sub. My students said the sub seemed really intrigued by it, talked about it several times, and even moved it from the shelf where it sat and brought it over to my desk. It was gone when I returned the next day. 😒.

Image credits: Pacifickarma

#14

She let the kids run wild and do whatever they wanted (first graders). I was out because my dad died. Thank god my team realized what happened and all pulled together and cleaned the room/put it back together before I returned to work.

Image credits: HambergerPattie

#15

Two things come to mind:

1. Tell the black children they need to speak more clearly because people think black people are hard to understand.

2. Just sit and play on the phone while class loses its mind.

Image credits: Mahaloth

#16

I’ve had so many bad subs.

One sub made an elementary student cry insisting her own name was misspelled and made her stand up in front of the class and admit her name was spelled wrong. I asked that she not return but I still saw her around as other teachers had her sub.

Another one worth mentioning was supposed to be my sub for the last 2 weeks of school because I went on maternity leave, this time teaching at a 7th-12th grade school. Ignored all my sub plans, played on his cell phone the whole time, and then like 3 days in got upset at the students and told them off. And then they watched as he walked out to the parking lot and drove away. Thank goodness some kids went and told the office. When I came back it was like my room had been ransacked! It was awful.

Image credits: ambereatsbugs

#17

Not a teacher but in 7th grade life science we had a sub. For the first 5 or so minutes of class he made us do a Kahoot (for anyone who doesn’t know Kahoot is a learning website that let’s you take a quiz in a fun way) the only problem was that he told us every awnser. Next we were supposed to be learning about parts of a microscope but instead he got them out and told us to mess around with them and he broke one of them. After that he put a video up and ate my teachers chocolate then fell asleep for the last half hour or so of class. Needless to say when our teacher got back and we told her about the sub he was fired.

Image credits: anon

#18

Re-arranged my room.

Not in a “Moved Student A away from Student B and put her by Student C” way.

In a “Move the giant rug over to the opposite corner of the room, and completely change the layout of student desks, and rearrange a bookshelf” way.

Image credits: dr239

#19

Not a teacher but I participate in STEM programs a lot. In the 90s I belonged to a club that refurbished old industrial PCs and donated them to schools. Sometimes we’d get completely burned out motherboards or disk drives so I took a bunch of those and made displays showing the insides of computers, and I’d let the kids explore them as part of my session. Then I’d dig out a couple of blown PCs and monitors, hand out the screw drivers and let them rip them apart. Yes I was always careful around the old tube monitors. Once they were done I’d let them pick a part if they wanted to take home.

The younger kids especially loved this, and frequently I’d see some kids take home a hard drive controller or a graphics card like it was a real treasure. I even made the local news with my program (that’s the thing about living in a small city – eventually everyone makes the news)

So one day I went in to do my lesson at a high school (I think freshman or sophomore science class). The class had a substitute and I had an appt right after that session, so I told them I’d come back to pick everything up the next day. The kids could take whatever they wanted from the old PCs, but please put my displays aside, in the cupboard.

Next day I came by and all my displays were still out and they were completely trashed. Worse yet the sub’s attitude was, “well, kids will be kids”

That was the last session I did, ever, for that program.

Image credits: DarthSanity

#20

Had a sub who somehow allowed a last period class of freshman to convince him that they were not supposed to be working on the packet that I left for the class (and which every other class that day had been working on…) because they had “already finished it” and told him they were supposed to be watching a movie. He went to the library to get the movie, leaving the class unattended, which promptly then broke out a dance party involving dancing on the desks. My department chair’s classroom was next door but as she taught AP government to seniors, she was able to leave them to come next door and try to figure out what the hell was going on. No sub. She calmed the class down and into the seats and into the worksheets, and calls the principal, who met the sub on his way back from the library and told him he could go home. My chair also found it would be appropriate to basically call me and blame me for this while I was sick at home. I don’t teach anymore lol. I mean, packets were not a great emergency sub plan but what can you do? They could have played Heads Up 7 Up for all I cared lol. They were a handful of a group on the best days. Freshman after lunch during last period of the day are a situation.

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Image credits: anon