Being Mute for 3 Years

**Being Mute for 3 Years** is a YouTube video by Tabbes. It was first posted on September 1, 2018.

## Summary

Tabbes share some of her silent experiences of being the "quiet one" throughout middle school.

## Stories

### Introduction

Tabbes originally wanted to have duct tape on her mouth in the video, but decided against that because it "looks kinky". She would wear a bandana instead to represent limited speech. She kept her duct taped mouth in the thumbnail, because if taken out of context, the bandana would like she was either wearing a diaper on her face, robbing a bank, or joining a gang.

### Significant change

Tabbes mentioned college application essays that have the question: "What was the most significant change in your life?" or "What was your biggest obstacle, and how did you overcome it?" The short answer that could result in rejection would be "Puberty", but everyone Tabbes knew wrote the answer, "I used to be a quiet kid but now I'm not." This was because they all went through the same quiet phase sometime in the lifetime, including Tabbes who was so silent that nobody in her school knew her voice, not even her teachers. It was not a contest, but one of the biggest regrets Tabbes had in her life.

### The silent phase

When Tabbes first started middle school, her brain had what she thought was a brilliant idea of going through middle school with absolutely no talking to make it clear to people that she has personal space. The actual reason for her new quiet phase was, there were some things going on at her home, and having open discussions was rarely allowed there and might result in throwing glass. This affected the way Tabbes would interact with everyone. Since her first day of sixth grade, Tabbes had nothing to say, with no words to bring to the table nor any interest in raising her hand. Throughout her first week, Tabbes had been given nicknames like "The Quiet One", "The Mute Kid", "Cereal Killer", "Never Smiles", and "Who?" She kept those labels and continued going to school "as a mime". While Tabbes did not have anything to look forward to in those six-hour school days except draw, it was hard to make friends and she did not have anything worth grading, like presentations, participation, and reading aloud. She could do tasks that did not require talking, but not verbal answers.

### The Realest realist

There was one teacher who Tabbes calls "Mrs. Realest" because "she was the realest out there", helping the students in her best effort but with tough love. There were a lot of presentations in her class, which did not sit well for Tabbes. On the first day, Mrs. Realest said clearly that 50% of the students' grades count on participation, and anyone who tries to go through the whole year without talking would not be able to pass. She managed to find all of the quiet students within the first few weeks and gave them a mandatory 7am class to read aloud together, which those students complained about. Even then, Tabbes still refused to talk. The class went on for a few months, then one day, the only student to show up was Tabbes. Either the other students were sick or skipped the class due to the weather. Mrs. Realest went on a one-on-one with Tabbes and tried to get Tabbes to read aloud, but they ended up silent reading instead. After 15 minutes, Mrs. Realest suddenly started puking in the trash can, probably due to something she ate. She told Tabbes to call a teacher for help. Tabbes went into the classroom at the end of the hallway and had to play charades for the teacher to understand what was going on then bring her to Mrs. Realest. The next day, Mrs. Realest gave Tabbes a lecture about how communication is important in the real world, especially in dangerous situations.

### Hot water with Hot Shot

There was another teacher that Tabbes had for band, nicknamed "Mr. Hot Shot" because the other students liked and got along with him. Tabbes would play the oboe as hard as she could. Appreciate that at first, Mr. Hot Shot got curious and took Tabbes into the hallway. Mr. Hot Shot tried asking Tabbes a few times what was wrong, and got heated to the point where he threatened to give her a zero if she did not talk. After two minutes, Mr. Hot Shot left her in the hallway and told her to talk to him if she wanted to change her grade. From that point on, Mr. Hot Shot started ignoring Tabbes. She thought he hated her but realized that he was trying to get her out of her comfort zone.

### From down to up

Later that year, Tabbes ended up going to guidance counseling every week. The counselor said that she heard a lot from the teachers about Tabbes and her dwindling performance in class. The counselor asked a few questions and Tabbes responded with sign language and the answers in her mind. There was a lot of days when Tabbes would go home after school and wonder how everything went downhill for her, and she would try to figure out how to quit her quiet phase. She began slowly stabilizing herself in high school. Tabbes was never bullied for all this. Her classmates would pick her first for gym teams, and ask for help with music and art. She was even voted the most athletic in the yearbook, which she thought was strange, but something worth appreciating. Moral of the story: People change but nothing would happen if the change goes nowhere, so do not take labels as your own unless you agree with them.

## Characters

* Tabbes
* Brain
* Students
* Teachers
* Carrot-Top
* Mrs. Realest
* Mr. Hot Shot
* Counselor

## Trivia

* The "things going on at home" would later be referenced in Insane Childhood Punishments.
* Some of the moms that appear at 0:44 include Marge Simpson (The Simpsons), Lois Griffin (Family Guy), and Dexter's Mom (Dexter's Laboratory).
* When Tabbes said that she went to middle school as a mime, the Pokemon Mr. Mime appears saying his name with the Pokemon theme in the background.
* When Carrot-Top requested a drawing of his face with Hulk's body, Tabbes drew literally Hulk's headless body with Carrot-Top's face over Hulk's chest.
* The famous quote by Gandalf (from Lord of the Rings), "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" was used when Mrs. Realest said that Tabbes would not pass if her tried to go the whole year without talking.
* The books shown at 5:25 are a couple books from the Goosebumps series, "The Curse of Camp Cold Lake" and "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight."
* The famous Psycho sting can be heard when Mrs. Realest said, "Hello, I've been expecting you." (with her head rotating creepily).
* When some students agreed to take the school day off and eat at Arby's, Johnny said, "But I like Halal better", as a possible hint that Johnny is a Muslim.
* At 9:03, Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid appears as "student of the year".
* Many of the people in the yearbook categories are also YouTube animators: Jaiden Animations and James (TheOdd1sOut) as most popular, Pantsless Pajamas as most artistic, TimTom and Chilly Panda as smartest, Illymation as best smile, and Gingerpale as thots.
* The background character in the beginning shouting "CLICKBAIT!" resembles Gingerpale.
* The book Tabbes is reading at 6:06 is TheOdd1sOut book, "How to Be Cool and Other Things I Definitely Learned from Growing Up".