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My dad recently sent me an heirloom: A handwritten note from one of my elementary school teachers, written in the early ’80s. The content of her note can be summarized in the phrase “We need to talk.” My dad also included his handwritten notes from the phone conversation.
Hilarious! What a great way to start the week laughing! My favorites on the teacher’s notes – “Mondays are the worst” – “hides under desk to impress a girl” – did that ever work? “Pushing a kid into the mud” – you little delinquent! The performance review is also very funny – I love the number of days you’ve been on the job. It says give or take? I guess if they’ve put up with you this long, you’re good to go. Can’t wait to see Hoodie Fridays at Costco! :-)
Assuming that “writes beautifully” was not referring to your penmanship, I think that particular comment is the key to understanding the rest of the behavioral stuff. A certain amount of cleverness is required to write well at a young age. Inevitably that cleverness is going to seep out into other parts of a kid’s world.
Edited to add this PS: By the way, seeing as how you have been with Costco so long, maybe you could use some of that cleverness to persuade the Powers That Be to open a Costco in Waco, TX. Preferably on the west side of town. I have to drive to either Dallas, Ft. Worth, or Austin to get my Costco fix.
It will never happen. They have an irrational hatred of hoodies at the management level. I used to joke there must have been a water boarding initiation involving hoodies when they got their promotion. It’s the only way to explain their rage.
Some people work every day because they want a paycheck. Other people come in to work because they want to see what happens next.
You keep those people coming in to work.
I thorou liked this. A lot.
My issue with teacher comments in elementary school was how often the comments they provided to my parents did not match the comments they provided to me in class.
To my parents: [Misthiocracy] is always cracking us up in class.
To me: Nobody likes a class clown.
To my parents: [Misthiocracy] is very creative.
To me: Just stick to the assignment.
To my parents: [Misthiocracy] has a very analytical mind.
To me: You have an answer for everything, don’t you?
This sort of mixed messaging happened all the time.
More of this please.
In matters of courtship, there is no better glimpse into the clueless minds of grade-school boys (of which I was one) than the thought process that goes, “No matter what I do, Penelope doesn’t seem to give me a second thought. But if I crawl under my desk, she will probably come around.”
Two things come to mind. One is a joke, one is a true story.
The joke:
Little Johnny’s first quarter report card isn’t very good. Lot’s of C’s and D’s. But the teachers comment at the bottom of the report card says “Trying”, so his parents feel okay about it. Then the second quarter report card comes out. Same grades, but this time the teacher’s comment is “Very trying”.
The True Story.
My mom was cleaning out “memorabilia” and returning it to me and my siblings, including saved schoolwork from our grade school years. My brother is looking through his with his early-teenage children. He notices that much of his graded homework has “C’s” on it, and comments that this surprises him, because he would have expected mom to have saved only his best work. To which his oldest daughter deadpans “Maybe she did”.