Rude Awakening

I don't have a problem with cute little blonde nymphettes shooting pool at a local pub and fraternizing at night. Really, I don't. I do have a problem with a young, inexperienced thing showing up to escort twelve middle-school children to a school event, reeking of alcohol.

I was in for a rude awakening today. This was the most unplanned, ill prepared, mess of a school activity that I have ever witnessed.

I drove my daughter to the school at 7:15 a.m. The bus was to leave at 7:30. The "coach" as she was called finally showed up at 7:31. She was loaded down with folders and papers, her bag, and a big cup of coffee. No to go cup, no thermos, a regular coffee mug. She was talking up a storm even when she was 20 feet from us. I smelled the alcohol once she was within five feet of me. Whew.

Now, again - I am not a hypocrite. I drank my share when I was in my early twenties. I drank some other people's share, too. I know when I went to work somedays I was still seeing double vision. But, I wasn't around kids. Just other 20, 30 and 40 year-olds. My job was supervising the cashiers in an automotive store. Wow.

Two students did not show up. She was trying to call them with her cell phone. I wouldn't take kindly to anyone calling my house at 7:45 on a Saturday morning. The parent that she finally reached knew nothing about this school activity. My daughter only told me about it at the end of December.

The bus finally gets rolling. I chat with the coach. She is not an employee of the school. She does not have her teaching certificate. She is majoring in education. She does not have her degree, yet. The other coach who did this for years and years, resigned at the beginning of the school year. (August) The school only setup a new coach at the end of December. She thinks that she may have been mistaken in taking the assignment with so little information and experience. Gee, do you think?

Her outfit was the latest from New York City as was her hair. See the picture above. Her outfit consisted of white snap-up pants. When I say snap up, I mean there were snaps down the outside of both pants legs. Her top was a loose (as in holy) knit sweater. She has a long neck scarf on - also loose knit. I had to look twice (maybe three) times to make sure she had a top on underneath the sweater. It was light peach/pink.

Her mannerism proved to me that she was 22 - 24. I didn't ask her age, I was afraid to. Our school was so unprepared for this event, the hosting school treated us like lepers. The lunch was messed up and some of our students had not packed a lunch. Another school had mercy on them and shared their pizza. I was busy in the tab-counting room. It appears that the school was supposed to supply one coach and one other adult to count the ballots. I was drafted in. I didn't mind. It gave me something to do and a chance to chat with other mothers who have been to this event before.

They were appalled at how our school handled the activity. Most of them had been practicing with the students since September. Our group had not practiced once. Our kids got a raw deal. We all did the best we could.