How Can You Not Enjoy This???

I know that I have mentioned – once or twice – that I get a kick out of my job.  But seriously folks – how can you NOT like a job where this is a "normal" sort of day:

I open the cafeteria at 7:30.  School doesn’t start until 9, but LOTS of kids come early.  Some are there as early as 7:00 am!  They don’t start serving breakfast until 8, but the cafeteria is open so the kids have somewhere to go that’s supervised, rather than wandering around and dreaming up mischief to get into.

As the students come into the cafeteria, I stand close to the door and offer each and every one a cheery "Good Morning!"  The responses are amazing to me. 

• Some just flat out ignore me.  They hear me all right – they just aren’t going to react to something that pleasant.
• Some look at me as if I have grown three heads and offer back a tentative smile or a quiet hello.
• Some respond with a big smile and a "Good Morning" of their own. 

This last category is the fewest in number.  SOOOOO…Ms. Wolf is on a mission.  I will teach these darlings that it is OK to be nice.  Your friends won’t hate you for it, your parents won’t beat you for it and your face won’t fall off if you smile at someone.  This morning, two boys walked right past me after I "Good Morninged" them.  I said it again.  They kept walking.  I cleared my throat LOUDLY – and said "HELLO?  GOOD MORNING!"  They stopped dead in their tracks – turned around to look at me with stunned looks on their faces…and finally gave sheepish little smiles and hesitant "good mornings" of their own.  Ha!  It’s working already!!!

7:45 – A chatterbox decided she needed to talk to me.  "I like it here.  I work on the school newsletter.  Today I am going to interview Ms. Art Teacher.  Are YOU Ms. Wolf?  Oh!  Are you sure?  The one they say is so mean?  You’re nice!"  lol – I’ve got a ‘rep’!

7:55 – A rather tall and big boned girl with plenty of padding came in dressed in a skirt cut UP to there…and a blouse cut DOWN to here!  I was deciding whether I needed to tackle this dress code issue, when I looked up and saw two male teachers looking at me with "HELP!" written all over their faces and the custodian motioning wildly at me to LOOK at the student.  Sigh.  So I trotted over and asked the little darling to go into the office and call home for some clothes that actually COVER some of the volumes of skin she was showing.  She was none too happy, but at least compliant.

8:15 – a ‘thug’ returnee from last year popped into the cafeteria to give me my morning thug-hug.  (I’m thinking bumper sticker here – HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR THUG TODAY?)  He is back in school under court order, while they are processing a place for him in a "residential program".  We talked – and he informed me that his science teacher doesn’t like him.  I pressed.  Why?  He couldn’t come up with an answer – so I jumped in with both feet.  

"So – the reason you think Mr. MAN doesn’t like you is because he is a big old whitebread man?  (for those of you who don’t understand the slang – whitebread is used as a derogatory term to refer to us plain old boring white people).  My thug grinned and said – yeah.  That’s right.  He is and he don’ unda-stan.  I took a step back and motioned at myself – "And just what do you think I am, if not whitebread?"  And I got the standard answer – not you, Miss!  You’re my dawg!!!  heh.  I’m ‘in’ with the ‘thug’ crowd.  lol

8:55 – I see a girl in the halls on her way to class who is dressed for work – unfortunately the type of work she was dressed for would best be done in the local ‘red light district’.  She had on hooker heels, too-tight jeans and a shirt she had tied up in the back to make too short and as form-fitting as humanly possible.  I pulled her aside and ASKED her to undo her shirt and put it back to "normal".  Oh boy – attitude on steroids!  I simply kept insisting until she finally caved and undid the shirt.  I didn’t address the hooker heels.  I figured walking all over school all day in those things would be bad enough.  As I turned around a parent, who I hadn’t seen standing in the hall, touched me on the arm and said "Good job".  (SO glad I was being the "nice" MS. Wolf today!!  lol)

11:30 – Same girl in hooker heels is in the hall – with her shirt tied back up.  I asked her to stop.  She kept walking.  Poor thing – she doesn’t know that ignoring me is like waving a red flag in front of a bull!  I followed her until I got her to stop.  I told her to untie her shirt AGAIN.  Out came the ‘tude again.  Then she said she’d put on her sweater.  I declined.  If she’d done that earlier, we’d be OK – but she chose to be sneaky and defiant.  Wrong choice.  She yells out in the hall – "LIKE HELL I WILL".  Ms. Wolf turned into Ms. Werewolf.  I marched little miss hooker heels to the office where I deposited her with the nearest admin representative and left.  "Like hell I wil"?  OH NO she DIDN’T!!

2:55 I had a little chat in the hall with our resident GOTH boy.  I have stopped him in the hall the last 2 days for wearing clothing with chains attached.  Personally, I don’t care if he wears 10,000 chains every day – but the school board has deemed chains on clothing potential weapons.  Yesterday he was angry and told me I was picking on him because he wears black.  Sigh.  Today I pulled him aside and explained to him that I understand how he thinks that everybody judges him based on how he looks.  I also understand that he took one look at me and judged that I couldn’t possibly understand him.  I told him I thought that maybe both judgements were equally inappropriate and that I don’t care what he wears – it’s what he does, how he behaves, and what kind of person he is that count with me.  I think we came to terms.

3:00 – My last class of the day finally shaped up some.  Not completely – but some.  I’ll take some.  Tomorrow – I’ll take some MORE!

3:30 – a student that graduated 2 years ago came into my room to see me and chatted a while.  I’m so glad she still thinks

of me!

4:15 – meeting about before school program – Coffee Shop starts next week!!

4:45 – caught in the rain storm from hell on the way home.

Seriously – what’s not to love?