Wednesday "WOW" story

A month ago...

I arrived in my classroom at 7:15 on Wednesday morning. I had parking lot duty that morning at 7:30, so I basically hit the lights, threw my stuff down near my desk, turned on my computer (which makes me laugh every morning because it sounds like an airplane taking off as it boots up) and quickly checked my e-mail.

There was nothing great in my Inbox. Just two annoying “Mail Summary” e-mails with subject lines like “Call for your diploma now," “I From Russia” and "Hello Stranger."

At 7:20, I headed over to the office (as I do many mornings) to use the copy machine. I made about 100 copies: a batch of Social Studies tests, some color wheels for an art lesson and a few transparencies.

Then I walked over to the staff lounge next door. As I entered the lounge, I checked the time on the clock: 7:26 a.m.--just four minutes before I was supposed to be out in the front of the school on parking lot duty.

I always feel like a Wal-Mart greeter when I’m standing out there on the curb saying “Hello” and “Good morning” to the kids.

It's funny; some of the little kids don't even acknowledge me. I don't know if they are shy or scared. I was going to type intimidated, but really, who is intimidated by a teacher who stands 5'4"?! I really think half of them are still sleeping judging by the way they roll out of their parents’ cars. Oh, and the bedhead they have going on is a dead giveaway, too. :-)

I recognize the behavior (and sometimes the bedhead!) because that’s me nearly every morning.

As many of you know, I’m not a morning person. More and more, I’ve been thinking that maybe I need to become a coffee drinker. I love the smell of coffee brewing, but cannot stand the taste.

I could do what my husband does and just add half a bottle of vanilla creamer to my cup of Joe. Ha-ha!!

(I can visualize Brian's eyes rolling into the back of his head right now!)

Anyway, back to my story…

I had hoped to dive into the staff lounge, use the restroom in a flash and report to duty (the kids always giggle when I say I have duty because it is so close to doo doo), but someone was occupying the bathroom.

So, I set my copies down on the small round table near the mailbox cubbies and waited patiently for the person inside to finish up.

About a minute passed and then a 3^rd grade teacher (who shall remain nameless) walked out of the bathroom.

She was mumbling something under her breath which I couldn’t make out. She didn’t look happy to be awake and stumbled toward the break room table.

As I turned to close the bathroom door, the same third grade teacher looked up at the clock and muttered “Oh, good. I have three more minutes before bus duty.”

I closed the door, quickly did my business and exited the restroom. (Oh, don't worry, I washed my hands, too!)

I ran over to the table to grab my stack of copies, but they were nowhere to be found.

I stood there dumbfounded, replaying in my head what I'd done and where I'd been over the previous five minutes.

Where, oh where did I put those stinkin' copies? I thought.

I looked to the right in my mailbox, but they weren't there. Then, I peered over to the left near the microwave, but there weren't any papers there either.

The three teachers chatting by the table stopped their conversation and asked what was going on. I explained that I had just set my stack of copies right here on the table and now the papers were gone. None of them had seen any copy paper in the lounge recently.

I stood there racking my brain, but being that it was so early in the morning, I was in a rather befuddled state.

(Love that word befuddled, don't you?!)

Rewinding and replaying the events of the morning was taking longer than usual just by virtue of the fact that it was before 8:00 a.m.

Anyway, I looked back in the bathroom just to make sure I hadn't taken the copies in with me, but they weren’t there. As I emerged from the bathroom once again, one of the teachers said, “You know that little round table is the “FREE" table, right?! People put stuff there that they don’t want.”

"Oh, yeah...that's right," I muttered in slow motion.

(To be honest, I had completely forgotten it was the FREE table.)

As I was uttering those words, I remembered that there was a 3rd grade teacher in the lounge just minutes ago, and she was probably now at bus duty.

Speaking of duty, that's where I was supposed to be.

Quickly, I sprinted out to the bus loading zone and ran up to THE 3rd grade teacher, who just happened to be holding a stack of copies in her hands.

I explained that I had set some papers on a table in the break room and politely asked if she had seen them.

She looked down at the stack of copies in her arms and coyly said, “Oh, might these be them?!”

I tried to act surprised, saying “Oh, yes--yes they are!"

She continued saying, "The transparencies looked really fun and I thought they were free, so I grabbed them!"

I quickly replied, "Oh, no problem, thanks so much!"

As I hurried to the parking lot, I rolled my eyes, shook my head, laughed and said, "WOW!" :-)

Come to think of it, I uttered "WOW" the exact same way Jim Halpert does in The Office.

Speaking of The Office, as Dwight might say, "Question: Do people steal paper from each other at a paper supply company like Dunder Mifflin?!"

Or is it a non-issue because, well, it's a paper company?! (Ha-ha!)

Wow, that was my second tangent of the post, giving you a peek into the way my mind works.

Hope you have a paper-filled, tangent-less Wednesday!

J