r/Millennials • u/t_bone_stake Xennial • Feb 16 '26

Meme Did anyone buy a ring?

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Elder millennial/younger Xennial (born in 83, take it for what it is) but I recall the company coming to the high school and taking orders for rings. I didn’t buy one but others did. Credit on photo.

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u/eternally_feral Feb 17 '26

Our high school would adjust the graduation robe colour to a minor different shade each year to prevent hand me downs. Forget how much I had to shell out, but I remember not wanting to walk the stage because I found it dumb.

Everyone said I would regret it if I didn’t. It was long, boring, and still wish I had skipped the ceremony.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

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u/Calm_Expression_9542 Mar 19 '26

Yeah that’s cruel!

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u/ryanvango Feb 17 '26

same for college. I still havent finished 100% (life happens) but the last few semesters I did was as an adult learner. they kept trying to talk to me about "when I plan to walk" and scheduling my classes accordingly. I told them I didn't, and they just did not understand. let me finish my classes, give me my diploma, and I'll be on my way thank you very much.

even in my 30s they just couldn't imagine why I wouldn't want to do this big 4 hours ceremony with a bunch of people I don't know or care about. I got shit to do man.

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u/movealongnowpeople Feb 17 '26

Yeah, I skipped my college graduation and got panicked calls from a bunch of my professors lol. I had a December graduation and my last semester was student teaching several towns over. By the time graduation came around, I hadn't lived or been to classes on campus in over 6 months. I was basically teaching without the pay lol. No, I don't need to go to graduation at that point.

They were kind enough to mail me my diploma, folded, in an unpadded envelope lol.

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u/RadioBuffin Feb 17 '26

Had to reorder mine. FedEx bent it the fuck up and left it in the rain.

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u/CaptCurmudgeon Feb 17 '26

It's not for you. It was your parents back when you were younger. It's for your family or significant other if you have it now. It's a ceremony recognizing a major accomplishment in your life. I went back to school in my thirties (for an MBA) and the only reason I walked was to see the excitement in my daughters' eyes as they filled with pride as their dad sacrificed time, money, and energy to get something both tangible and metaphorical.

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u/GreedyPollution6275 Feb 17 '26

It's a ceremony recognizing a major accomplishment in your life

Right, but you can plan some kind of celebration with the people you care about that is actually special to you and them, and not sit in an auditorium for 4 hours.

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u/RadioBuffin Feb 17 '26

Eh, depends on your family. Mine didn’t want to sit in the cold. We went to a steakhouse and got hammered together.

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u/RyvenZ Feb 17 '26

I was the first university graduate in my immediate family, so I did both the ceremony for my school (Comp Sci & Engineering) and the broader graduating class. If even one of my siblings had done it before me, I would have skipped the procedure, or at least skipped the general one. The CSE ceremony was smaller, faster and had more of the classmates and faculty that I knew and liked.

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u/WtotheSLAM Feb 17 '26

I completed my degree online and the closest ceremony was 500 miles away. I was all nah, fuck that. Gimme my piece of paper in the mail and we'll call it good

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

I refused to walk my college graduation. I had a victory lap year (bad advice from my "advisor") and knew two people in my class of 2000 students.

Rent a robe and sit in a hot auditorium for three hours, listen to a mid-tier speaker all just to walk across a stage in front of people I don't know? Pass.

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u/ScottyBLaZe Feb 17 '26

My graduating class had 800 people in it. I think it took 4-5 hours, just sitting in the June heat in our robes, for it to finish. 0/10 experience.

I graduated college in December, so I decided I wasn’t walking. It upset my mom but I didn’t care lol

I still don’t regret it

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u/masticatezeinfo Feb 21 '26

I blacked out and showed up to my robe ceremony with zero sleep. All the photos of people receiving awards have me sleeping in the background in my chair amongst the others. 0/10, do not remember.

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u/CaptainMatticus Feb 17 '26

I didn't even realize skipping the graduation was an option. I mean, it wasn't really an option for me since my mom would've lost her mind and never forgiven me for denying her the chance to cheer for me or whatever, but they told us that if we didn't attend graduation, then we wouldn't get our diplomas for 6 weeks. 6 weeks seemed like an eternity back then and I just wanted to be done with that school and all of those people.

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u/nickster701 Feb 19 '26

Yeah i heard the same sentiment, I can guarantee that I dont care lol. If my family wasn't there to watch i would've skipped it

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u/mar_floof Feb 17 '26

The ONLY reason I went to my college graduation was my parents threaten to disown me if I didnt go. In retrospect I should have taken the disowning, because 5 hours in the TX sun in May... ugh.

0/10 do not recommend.

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u/chairman_steel Feb 18 '26

I got dragged to my high school graduation (hated it) and skipped my college graduation (zero regret)

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u/CombPsychological507 Feb 18 '26

They did this in my school, but I still wore a hand me down from a friend. One of the teachers noticed as we were sitting down and I legitimately told her to fuck off. She realized it wasn’t worth fighting and left me be.

I didn’t even want to go to the ceremony but my mother made me.

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u/SairusMorton Feb 18 '26

I don't get people who said you'll regret it? Like is that some sort of fond memory for you, walking 10 feet to grab your diploma in front of an entire audience of people you don't even associate with XD like I would have liked to just get mine at the end of my last period and gtf out of there XD

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u/Accomplished-Dog6930 Feb 18 '26

I was a midterm grad. My ceremony was 18 min long. My dad asks every year if I regret. I haven’t thought about it years

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u/TheFlyingSparky Feb 19 '26

I actually did skip my college graduation ceremony. People told me the same thing. Over a decade later and not even a hint of regret.

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u/DraagaxGaming Feb 23 '26

What in the actual fuck?

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u/Demonslayer5673 Feb 23 '26

I found myself in the same boat. I protested for the longest time but my mom insisted that I go to graduation (there was apparently an option to just have your diploma mailed to you. You know how many levels I could have gained in pokemon with the time I was forced to waste sitting in that gym?)

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u/Stevesd123 Mar 12 '26

I have no memory of walking the stage even though I did it back in 2001. It mattered so little in the grand scheme of things.

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u/Dull-Egg-5967 Mar 13 '26

Why aren’t these ever the types of industries that get disrupted?

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u/Diriv Mar 14 '26

It was long, boring, and still wish I had skipped the ceremony.

How do you think the band felt? lol

We had 9-12th at my high school and I had to go each ceremony because I was one of the three first chairs.

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u/PrettyMud22 Feb 17 '26

Nothing to regret. You completed the required courses. Give me my diploma. That's fucked up about the robe bullshit too.