12.05.2006

Lighten Up!


Today I went to work (I'm a high school math teacher) and found my entire room had been TP'd.

A few weeks ago my homeroom class took it upon themselves to decorate the room for Christmas. I must say, the lights (some blinking, some not), the fake tree (with purple decorations and no star), and the "Happy Holidays" light are...oh should we say...a little on the tacky side. But it is festive nonetheless. And oh yeah, let's not forget the "Santa's Workshop" sign outside the door.

Anyway, I thought the TP job was performed by some nefarious foes, seeking to dampen our Christmas spirit with the dangling litter of toilet paper. After all, our "Santa's Workshop" sign has already been stolen (and returned) twice. And yes, they not only had spread toilet paper all around the room, and even around some of my calculators, but they also had hung the TP from the ceiling tiles--it was, needless to say, a mess; a mess that I did not want to clean up before school.

I got pretty angry about the whole thing. I found out about 20 minutes later that the plot had actually been carried out by members of my own chess club. My own custodian let them in, and a few of my colleagues had actually seen them the day prior doing the deed. As I thought about the whole thing throughout the day, I realized that I had overreacted. It was done in good humor. I should have left the mess (or should I say, the teens' morbid act of appreciation and kindness) for all to see throughout the day.

Then something else happened at lunch. I stepped into the men's room for a few moments, leaving my lunch on the table by the coffee pot. When I returned, I found my lunch to be missing. I actually thought, "Great...here I have another opportunity to overreact. Don't blow it this time." Sure enough, I blew it.

As it turns out, one of the other teachers hid it from me. As I went into another part of the office to locate it, it "mysteriously" reappeared where I had lost it originally. The other teacher thought it was funny; I didn't. After all, I only had 10 minutes left to scarf my lunch.

A couple of people got the best of me today. In our house when I was young we used to have a saying: "If you can't take it, don't dish it out." I learned that I need to lighten up sometimes!

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