Thursday, November 18, 2010

First Impressions!

Our school calendar for the week is stupid.

I guess I should preface that. I love days off, particularly when they aren't days everybody gets off--they feel more special--and I love them even more since I have a real job now. But this week? Was stupid. Students Monday morning, then teacher duty day in the afternoon. No school Tuesday-Thursday, and back for Friday.

Like I said...stupid.

However, having students in the morning only gave us the opportunity to go out for lunch. One of the teachers called me and asked if I wanted to go with some of them. I'm excited about the idea of making new friends, so of course I said yes. Panera was crowded, so we headed to On the Border. (Love it there.) The other teachers wanted to know my backstory, so I tried to make myself sound interesting and relatively normal and cool enough that they might continue to invite me to socialize. (Tough work, let me say.) Getting their life stories, I began to feel confident that these were people I could bond with! Coworkers I could sit with at meetings and CAN YOU TELL I'M EXCITED ABOUT NEW FRIENDS?
As I tried to hide my desperation for female friends and/or possible counselors for when I inevitably make bad personal choices, our waiter brought our drinks. Listening to a story, I felt a shock of cold water on my back. The table looked stunned and I tried to process what was happening. In what was a total accident, the waiter lost balance of his tray and a water and pop chose to show me some love.

So. Trying to play it cool? I should have known my coworkers would soon enough get to know me and realize that I can't really play it cool. We all had a good laugh and honestly, it could have been so so so much worse.

It could have been hot coffee. Or someone else's margarita so I spent the rest of the day reeking of tequila in my elementary school classroom. I could have been wearing white. Or on a date. Or wearing a material that required dry cleaning. (Alright let's not kid ourselves with those last two, hm?) I could have been with my boss, or heading back to teach instead of spending my afternoon alone in my classroom. The waiter could have been a douchebag. But once the floor was mopped and I began to laugh, the other ladies laughed with me and welcomed me to the staff. It was memorable, to say the least.

And so it was reinforced that I really, really cannot be taken anywhere. My favorite part was calling my mother once we got back to school. "Hey Mom..." "Hi...." she said, knowing full well that it was not a social call since I was at work. "So...I went to lunch with some of the other teachers today!" "Oh, that's nice. How was it?" "It was great! But...can you bring me some dry pants? I had an accident."


*Before I head off to get some work done today (and by get some work done I mean drink more tea, bake cookies, and then consider my lesson plans), I have to say how impressed I was with the people at On the Border. The waiter and manager, both clearly embarrassed, stopped by our table numerous times. They took good care of us, paying for my meal and bringing a couple desserts for the table. (And a voucher for a future visit! Score!) It was the best possible dining experience I can imagine after getting drenched by beverages. Thanks, OTB!

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