Get this guys: when I was driving home from church the wind was blowing really hard and making the snow swirl and dance on top of the road. It looked a little hazy and super cool, like you were about to have a dream sequence.
And if we’re really lucky, it’ll be the one where Gilligan thinks he’s a vampire.
But I’m not here to talk about Gilligan’s Island or the weather. Instead, I’m going to tell you about something that happened right before I left my old job at the school. It was a small incident and normally I’d never remember it, but this time my memory was razor sharp, and …
Okay, fine, I didn’t remember it. Fact is, I was cleaning through my closet and going through my stack of notebooks.
I have a serious notebook problem. Problem being, I keep losing them so I wind up buying new ones. So all these notebooks are half-filled or in some cases, two or three pages filled. It’s pathetic.
In any case, it was in one of these notebooks that I found this conversation I had with a teacher.
First, some background: the teacher and I, we have a history. He had a pathological need to be liked, and I didn’t like him.
I should have been more patient with the guy and I think I could have been, had he not been so damn annoying. Every morning he’d walk through the front office — most teachers don’t, you need to understand that. If their class was in the main building, they might, but even then they usually entered by a side door as it was closer to the parking lot.
This guy didn’t work in the main building; his class was in the “D” building, just outside. So coming through the front office didn’t make sense. Unless, of course, you wanted to go to the break room and see if anyone brought in donuts or muffins or homemade cookies.
After scarfing down several, he’d then make the rounds and say, “Hey good buddy,” to every secretary in the office. After they responded, he say, “Have a good one.”
If you didn’t respond — and this is the key point here — if you didn’t respond, he’s back up and repeat it. And he’d keep this up until he got your attention. Even if you were on the phone, you had to wave or acknowledge him in some manner.
You had to greet him. You had to.
He’d also come to the front office at the beginning of lunch and during his prep period. Sometimes during passing periods too. And every time he’d check out the break room.
One time someone bought two pizzas for the front office staff. They wrote on the boxes in big bold letters, “FOR THE FRONT OFFICE.”
Not five minutes after the pizza was put in the break room, he was seen leaving with not one, not two, but three slices. When one of the attendance clerks pointed out to him what was written, he claimed he thought it said “From the front office.”
Yeah. That makes total sense.
Anyway, before you say “Oh, those poor teachers. They don’t make enough and he’s forced to be a worm,” that would be a no. This guy was the wormiest of the worms. He was a Super Worm.
He was also a bit of a dope, and that’s where this exchange comes from. I enjoyed it so much, I shared it with every co-worker I could find.
Fortunately I also wrote it down because my memory is crap.
Scene: Break room of a large suburban high school. I’m sitting at the table eating my lunch, no doubt a homemade tomato/basil soup with freshly grated Parmesan. Just then, Worm arrives to fill his water bottle. (Oh! There’s a story with the Worm and the water cooler too! Damn, I don’t have time to go into it. We’ll save it for another time.)
Enter Worm…
Worm: (facing water cooler) Have a good life in Iowa.
Me: (doesn’t say anything; I thought he was talking to the water cooler)
Worm: (turns to face me) I said have a good life in Iowa.
Me: What?
Worm: Aren’t you moving to Iowa?
Me: No.
Worm: I thought you were moving to Iowa.
Me: No. Minnesota.
Worm: Oh, right right right. Minnesota.
Me: Yeah.
Worm: (thinking hard) That’s where Lincoln was from, right?
Me: No. You’re thinking of Illinois.
Worm: Right right right, Illinois… oh, I know, the Packers!
Me: No. Packers are Wisconsin.
Worm: Right right right, Wisconsin… (snaps fingers) Cheese!
Me: Wisconsin.
Worm: Right right right…. You know, I didn’t study geography.
Me: Neither did I.
Worm: Don’t worry, I’ll get it. Before you leave, I’ll get it. I’m not giving up!
Me: *pleasegiveup*
For the record, he never got it.
Now I don’t know about you, but I rather like this uniform and see no reason for it to be updated.
For those of you who didn’t spend your childhood in Arizona during the 70s, you have my sympathy. Reason being, you missed this wonderful group performing for the Wallace and Ladmo show.
He is appreciative.
A week goes by, it is the day before winter break. Cookies in the break room, someone says.
She frowns. Help a person once, help them always. That’s how it goes.
He sends his gratitude.
Quiet one is pleased. She has done well. Her work is now complete.
Not necessary, she tells him. Just doing her job.
He must be joking, she thinks. He’s in London. What can he do?
Quiet One turns off computer. Coworkers leave. Good wishes for a nice winter break.
Her first cup of the day, Countess Grey from Fortnum & Mason.
To a man in London, she is his dearest.
Warning: This post does not contain the folly typically found therein. Sorry. But non-folly thoughts were in my head and I needed to let them out.
I never wanted to be a teacher.
“They dropped Richard,” she said to me, before I could reach my desk.