Story 1

Hey yall! Idk about you, but this thing that’s happening is screwing with my anxiety. Yall know I’m a homebody. Staying home isn’t the problem. It’s the reason we have to stay home that’s eating at me. Also, knowing that loved ones are still having to go to work or making the choice to leave their house.
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Anyway, I wrote a list of five stories that I will eventually tell. I cut them apart and balled them up. This is what I chose first: The most awkward parent teacher conference I’ve had thus far. 

Parent-teacher conferences are always a little awkward because in most cases, I don’t know the relationship between the parents. Oftentimes, I don’t find out until conference time. If two parents are listed in our database, then I send conference confirmations to both parents. Well in this story, only one parent was listed. So I had one copy of test scores, one parent listed on the sign in sheet, one set of take home resources, you get it. As I walked out the parents before this conference, I could feel tension in the air. I looked around for one parent, and saw THREE people out in the hall and everybody was pissed. Nobody said anything. I said the student’s name and they all stood up. I thought, “Oh shit”.

A man and two women entered the room and we didn’t get very far before things got weird. The woman I knew was the kids mom turned to the man and said “she can wait in the hall” I looked up at everybody and said “I’ll be at the back table when you’re ready”. They whispered back and forth to each other and then the mom and the man, presumably dad, came to the back table. Mom was shooting daggers at Dad with her eyes and breathing audibly. 

As I said before, I was only prepared for one parent, so they had to scoot close together to see everything I had prepared. I was in the middle of explaining test scores when I was interrupted by Mom. “You really had to bring her? She could’ve stayed in the car.” Dad didn’t respond right away, but I still didn’t say anything because Mom was still looking at him. Dad goes, “She’s my girlfriend, she can be here too” Mom says “Girlfriend? *eyeroll* Ok.” They both looked at the paper so I continued. Then Mom starts laughing. I stop again to see if she’s going to do or say anything else, but she tells me to keep going. I’m explaining to them what I’d like to see happen in the next quarter and what they can do to support their son and then they start fighting over the paper. I grabbed it and told them I’d go make another copy- which I intended to do at the end of the conference to save time. When I come back, they’re not saying anything and they’re turned away from one another. I give them each their copy and continue to explain what they can do to help. 

As I’m gathering everything for each of them, they both thank me and compliment me. It just seems like they’re both trying to outdo each other. They take their papers and leave. 

That was the longest ten minute conference ever. 

And then later that night, Mom messaged me and apologized. She said she was completely blindsighted at some woman she’d never met showing up to her son's conference. 
WOW! 

One story down, four left to go!

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