Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Toughen Up, Buttercup

What do students chat about when they get their work done? Oh, rainbows and unicorns and puppies and kittens. Or perhaps this:

"If I have kids, and they're rude, they're going in the basement for an hour. They can learn their lesson in the dark!"

Yeah. That's what I overheard 3rd hour today. Welcome to Mrs. Hillbilly Mom's world. Also in her world, the main maintenance dude has been installing two large flat-screen TVs in the cafeteria. Grant money, don't you know. Except the grant specified that electronic equipment had to be used in a common area. So, even though the Principal would have liked to get more computers for the classrooms, he had to find something that would work for the whole community. There sure are a lot of strings attached to the various monies we can finagle.

If I had been in charge of installing two large flat-screen TVs in a cafeteria, you can bet that I would have worked in the morning or afternoon, NOT during the three lunch shifts. But there he's been for the last week and a half, standing on his ladder, his head up in the ceiling tiles. That's just asking for it if you ask me. Which he didn't.

Today, all systems were go. There was reception. Before all the kids had even gone through the line and gotten their trays, Main Dude came to the teachers' table and tossed the remote to the Principal. "I've had enough of THAT!" Then he went back to his ladder and buried his head in the ceiling. Who would have ever imagined that the kids would tell him what channel to put it on, and then another group would ask for a different channel, then the first group would get mad, but a third group would want their channel, etc.? A gosh-darn TEACHER, that's who!

People these days who want to be everybody's buddy will not survive long in a school. Toughen up, Buttercup, or you won't be long for the educational world.

Can I get a "Heck, yeah!" from my teaching cronies?

5 comments:

Mommy Needs a Xanax said...

Heck yeah!

Hey, HM, I just got even-stevened on the electronics catastrophe of which we shall never speak.

I put an ad on Craigslist to sell my old clarinet, which I'm asking $700 for, and a lady called today and said she definitely wants it. She's coming Friday after work.

And then-- get this--- THEN the treasurer of the AFT calls and says they had me entered into their system twice-- once by my first name, which is not Ann, and once as Ann. So they were drafting my checking account for two memberships since AT LEAST August of 08, but probably since August of 07. That shows you how closely we monitor bank statements. They're refunding me a full year's membership, maybe two years if the bank can give me something showing it was being done from the very start.

Worst case scenario I will be about $900 richer in a few days. Best case, $1300. I paid something like $1100 for my laptop once I added the extra memory and what not.

How's that for an even-stevening??

Hillbilly Mom said...

Miss Ann,
That is a textbook case of Even-Stevening. Congratulations!

Stewed Hamm said...

Well it's a good thing my grandkids' tax dollars are being spent on something educational, and not just pissed away on pointless crap for a bunch of ingrates.

Chickadee said...

What? TV in the lunchroom?

These kids today are spoiled in school with the TVs, easy access to computers and vending machines.

My high school had a computer room and no vending machines. And TV was something you checked out from the media room. Oh! And no phones!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Stewyourgrandkidsaresopatriotic,
I hope those grandkids serve their required four years in the volunteer Obamarmy. I hear there will be uniforms for the mandated community organizers.


Chick,
My high school had real food like ham & beans, no soda or snacks, no electronic gew-gaws, and picnic-type fold-up tables. None of this tables and chairs crap to make them feel like mature college students. That's what one official actually said, when we were building Newmentia. Guess what? We had trouble for three years getting the kids to leave the chairs at the proper tables, and not to sit two to a chair. Life is so complicated when your brain is just forming.