10:07 a.m. - 2007-04-09
mean old math teacher
Ham ham ham.
I don't really like ham but we ate some. It's always a little better than I think it will be.
Is it just me or is Easter dinner never quite as exciting as Thanksgiving or Christmas? My sister in law Sherri did a nice job with all of the food - I don't know if it's that it's a different, less holidayish time of year, or that I don't usually get to see my own family during Easter or what. Maybe someone (me?) needs to come up with an exciting new easter-only dish for us all to look forward to.
My cousin Evelyn dropped in on us unexpectedly last night. She is sleeping on the couch behind me at the moment. We watched the Sopranos last night. It was mostly uneventful.
Yesterday, on our way to SHerri's we stopped at the grocery store. I had bought her a nice hyacinth flower for Easter and forgotten it at home so we had to stop to get another one. I was in the checkout waiting while Kevin went to the restroom when I heard a voice I recognised. I looked up and I recognised the cashier. She was my fifth grade math teacher. The woman has a PhD! What on earth was she doing at the checkout at Giant Eagle in Lower Burrell?
I had some mixed emotions. This woman was 1. brilliant. 2. funny and sarcastic. 3. kind of mean and scary
I had really liked her but she always made me feel nervous. She yelled and got extremely cranky if your homework wasn't done. Long division was not a good chapter of life for me.
I waited until she was finished with the customer in front of me and as I put the little hyacinth on the conveyor belt, I asked her if her last name was what I remembered it to be. She said yes in this indignant, sharp way and I immediately wished I hadn't said anything. I said I was a student of hers from almost 20 years ago.
In my experience when you come upon a teacher and you tell them you are a former student, they generally get really excited and want to know what you're doing with your life. They seem to kind of get really hyper, hoping you're doing something worthwhile and not just getting out of jail or something. And when you tell them you're in non-profit, and such they get this misty eyed look and you can tell they feel proud and happy that you said hello.
Not such with this woman. Perhaps she just didn't remember me, which is fine...she has probably taught for 35 years and has had a lot of kids. SHe wasn't even my homeroom teacher - math only. So, that's ok. But it was as if she wasn't the slightest bit interested. She just kind of surveyed me and said "Hmm. So what are you up to?" But before I could answer, she was taking my debit card out of my hand and SWIPING IT FOR ME as if to hurry me along. I got really flustered and had trouble following along with all of the (press the green button, press yes, etc.) swiper machine nonsense. She was kind of making small talk, and I was just trying to get through the transaction at this point. She was not the slightest bit interested in being nice to me and it made me feel awkward and intimidated.
As Kevin came up I kind of tried to introduce them but that didn't go anywhere either. SO we just left. As I walked out, I thought to myself, wait a second. The woman has a PhD and she is working at a grocery store on Easter. There must be more to the story, and whatever it is, I'm pretty sure her apparent life-long crankiness isn't my fault.
