Today I did what we lesbians do best...no not that-get your dirty minds out of the gutter...I took care of business and built shelves for my classroom. I needed them to be low to the ground, "indestructable" and most importantly cheap. Very cheap. I think it worked out pretty well, now I just need to decide if I need another one on top for more books. I also think that I might need to seal the cinderblocks so they don't make a mess all year and possibly paint them to add more color to the room. Most teachers theme their classrooms but not me. That's too much freaking work and I get bored easily, but today I was told by a co-worker that my indirect "theme" is colorful...enough said.
The best part of today was the trip to Lowes to buy the plywood and cinderblocks. I have a little car and needed the 10 foot piece of wood cut so it would fit. This young man whose eyes screamed, "I-can't-believe-they-are-going-to-let-me-use-the-big-saw" had some shall we say issues with my directions. Here is the conversation that followed:
Excited young man: How can I help you ma'am?
Me: I need this cut down into four foot pieces.
Excited young man: Ok, great!
He got out his little tape measure and measured, and measured....and measured. I got concerned after he started scratching his head and avoiding eye contact. I could tell he had a question and was trying to figure out the answer on his own. Finally, after several awkward minutes he gave in.
Excited young man: Um, so you want four foot pieces?
Me: Yes.
Excited young man: ......ok, um, no problem.
Me: (putting him out of his misery) I need two four foot pieces. The extra two feet at the end are going to be scraps.
Seriously. He was trying to figure out how to take a 10 foot board and cut it into equal four foot pieces. I'm concerned about the future, because THEY LET HIM WORK THE SAW. Did I mention he was unsupervised. Seriously. I felt like I should be apologizing for the educational system letting this poor kid down. He cut the pieces and handed them to me all excited that he did a job well done. I left trying not to shake my head because he had just given me a great post. As my mom says, you just can't make this shit up people, you just can't.
6 comments:
I just want to say LMAO!!! Yea... That totally made my day.. I can even picture the perplexed look on his face... Awesome!
Wow. I have a story similar to that, but I can't quite recall it right now.
Love the homemade bookshelf! Especially the labels. I used to love Magic School Bus.
Kel-as awkward as it was, I was pretty stoked about the story he presented me with :-)
Carolyn-thanks, hopefully they will last for quite a while!
Wow, huh. Yeah, I get worried also when I see folks like this.
Always good to have a story telling opportunity. I need to get my storyteller back on and blog some.
Hope you are enjoying the summer.
Beans-I hope you are having a great summer too, I look forward to reading some stories soon!
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