Keli - I was teased mercilessly from Infants upwards. Firstly, because they considered I had a strange surname (it's actually quite a rare name, almost totally local to my home county and I got to be quite proud of it in the end) and secondly, because we had not a great deal of money, we couldn't afford to buy all the fashionable clothes that made me look like everyone else. I was different and got bullied for about 12 years because of it. When I got to Grammar School (11-16yrs), I got slated for still having my very strong local accent, for going to church and for not liking everything that every other girl liked (Bay City Rollers, Duran Duran and Billy Idol; yes, I'm that old!!) In the end, I took to alcohol to blot out the taunts and stopped doing my schoolwork, trying to fit in with the gang of girls who were picking on me. I ended up desperately unhappy, suicidal at times and with a growing alcohol dependancy. Almost as soon as I left school, that all went. I've been to one school reunion, and the same taunts were there, 5 years later. You'd think that they'd mature a little, but no, as 21 year olds, they hadn't got that far. I've not had any other contact since with anyone from my old school.

Things are a little more laid back now, I too, came to the 'Screw You' conclusion and was voted the office loony after only a few days in the new job.... I think the most important bit of sense that I arrived at was this: It doesn't matter what the outside looks like, it's how the inside feels. If you are not happy with yourself, only you can change it. If others are not happy with you, they can only change themselves.

A good friend of mine is having problems at work, so much so that she will not be returning from her maternity leave; her 'colleagues' have bullied her without letup for 4 years, despite her complaining to various bodies. They decided to stop it because 'it's not fair whilst she's pregnant', suggesting that it was OK to resume as soon as she had her baby. Already, after only 4 weeks off, she looks like a new woman....

LTS