February 20, 2009

No, I Do Not Have a Hall Pass


So, apparently this whole job thing really gets in the way of blogging.  Bummer.

However, I'm finding working in the front office of a high school beyond fascinating.  The only thing more fascinating than simply working in a high school is working in an office devoted for 50 or so "at risk" kids who have all kinds of issues and problems well beyond my ignorant comprehension.   

Good lawdy, am I getting an education.  I pretty much sit at my desk all day thinking Wow, am I a HUGE NERD or what?  Not breaking news, but it's certainly reinforcing that knowledge.  

This dude's parents are who-knows-where so he needs a place to live, stat.  This one is pregnant and carrying around bags of diapers.  That one is screaming at her boyfriend on her cell phone that he better not even THINK about going to that strip club again or else he doesn't even want to KNOW what she's going to do.

Well.  Who would have thought that all of this drama was unfolding mere moments from my peaceful deer-ridden backyard?

As someone who spent the entirety of her formative years within a delightful, insulated bubble of middle class suburbia and naivete (a bubble which was swiftly and gleefully popped by my new college friends), I cannot in any way shape or form relate to these kids.  They're screaming about how their boyfriends just used them for sex and now are heading to the strip club.  During these very same years I was busily prancing from Student Council to National Honor Society to ballet class, with any spare time spent huddled in the reference section of Border's bookstore next to human-sized stacks of college guides, obsessing about whether I would prefer the predominant architecture of my future university to be comprised primarily of brick or stone.  OH THE STRESS THE UNBEARABLE STRESS!

This whole job is made exponentially more interesting because I'm really not that much older than the students.  And of course, at least 5 times a day someone says there's NO way I look old enough to work here, and asks me how old I am, and then says I look SO young, and WOW.  My boss already warned me not to be offended if I get stopped in the hall and given detention for wandering about during class time.  
But it's good so far.  And I'm really just very thankful to have a job in this dreadful economic state.  Plus, its nice to be in an office with things actually HAPPENING.  And people actually SPEAKING to one another, rather than shooting emails back and forth across the cubicle wall at warp speed.   

I'm also pretty damn excited to finally have the chance to dress up and wear all of my zillions of clothes that are NOT sweatpants. 

5 comments:

Jennifer Chronicles (jenx67.com) said...

now, your blog gets really interesting.

Danger said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Danger said...

Did you really not know that the children of America deal with obstacles other than "Which Neo-Classical College Should I Pay A Billion Dollars to Go To?.

I'm glad you got a job. You are much... quieter.

Anonymous said...

thus, a new education begins, enjoy the journey.

Jaya said...

hah. that's how i felt when i started my work at an inner city high school in philly... man, what we missed by going to high school at central.