She Has A Way With Words

Yesterday I received a note from a parent. I don’t mind parent notes. In fact, I prefer a note to what seems to the alternative form of communication for parents at my school- bombarding me with questions at 7:58 in the morning while I’m just trying to pick up my class and go upstairs.

Someone needs to just put it out there, so I will…back up off my nuts at 7:58. It’s freaking early! And if I talked to every parent who had what they claimed to be a “quick question” before I went upstairs, our instructional day wouldn’t get started until at least 9:00. That is why we have free periods and after school – to meet with parents. In fact, the Visionary pretty vehemently discourages from having any sort of conversation with parents as we pick up our classes. He wants our asses upstairs and learning, STAT. And I have to say, I agree with him.

Would anyone ever charge a doctor in his office as he stepped through the door, shoving some sort of rash in his face and demanding an answer? No. The answer is no. One would not do that to a doctor, because it is gross (keep your rashes to yourself) and it’s just not how things get done. I would like to think that the same rules apply here, but evidently they do not.

Anyway, I got a note from a parent who wants me to call them. No problem, right? Um, WRONG. First of all, I have NEVER met this parent. They have NEVER responded to any of my notes or phone calls. They did NOT come to open school night or parent teacher conferences. I’m not even sure they know my name. Here was my biggest clue that my identity remains a mystery to them. The note read (and I quote):

Hey! Give me a call!

That’s it. No signature. No salutation. No reason. No name. Just a “Hey!” and a phone number. (In my head it sounds more like, “Haaaaaaay! Give me a call!” but whatever.) To me, it feels more like an invitation to meet up for a cocktail rather than a request for a meeting to actually discuss her son, but I don’t have many context clues to work with here.

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10 Comments
  • Left you some blog love… check it out.

    January 31, 2009 at 10:22 pm
  • Wackos.

    February 1, 2009 at 1:26 am
  • Whackalooney.

    February 1, 2009 at 3:30 am
  • Mrs. Mimi – that’s one of the biggest mysteries to me, after nearly 13 yrs of teaching in the public school system. HOW do people send their children to me, day after day, and have no earthly idea who I am? Could not pick me out in a line up at the police station because they have never set eyes on me? Don’t know my name (even though it’s on the top of the newsletter I send home every Friday and at the bottom of the zillion different reminder notes I send home each month) and therefor send me notes addressed to “My Kid’s Teacher”? It baffles me

    February 1, 2009 at 3:00 pm
  • I am continuously amazed by Grown Ups. Would you stop an attorney moments before she was headed to court? Nope. Would you stop the surgeon who is about to operate on your child? Nope. Common courtesy has gone by the wayside with its cousin–common sense.

    February 2, 2009 at 12:45 am
  • I love getting parent notes! You never know what you’ll get!

    February 2, 2009 at 3:41 pm
  • Lol. That is hilarious. And we wonder why our students are like they are… 🙂

    February 3, 2009 at 12:25 am
  • LOL… that is a funny note to give a teacher! SOunds like an email you’d send your best friend or your spouse or something! Oh well… if the parent has never tried to communicate with you before, maybe this is their big attempt at it! 😉

    February 3, 2009 at 10:03 pm
  • I’m reading your Big Boy updates and I laughed so hard I choked. Had a pizza party at the end of the year; told the kids to take ONE piece and then they could go back for more. Kid loaded up four pieces. I told him to put them back until everyone had at least one slice. He looked at me, leaned over, and licked each slice. Delicious.

    February 4, 2009 at 7:00 pm
  • Oh, my GOD! This is one of my HUGEST pet peeves! When parents try to grab the teacher “just for a second” to tell them nonsense like little Johnny might be a little cranky today because he didn’t get a lot of sleep and then there were no Cheerios, and blah, blah, blah… while the teacher’s trying to get to class! Drives me NUTS! They totally hijack the whole class for their nonsense. ACK!

    March 11, 2009 at 1:23 am

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