OT - More insanity - Careful, that pizza slice may be loaded!

[Jeff Leites]

http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/130547/kid_punished_for_pizza_slice

 

10 year old in Tenn. punished for chewing his pizza into the shape of a pistol, and pointing it at other students. He was turned in by his classmates. Another Columbine averted.

 

Be careful when you point you finger. Make sure your thumb is down!

[UstadKhanAli]

Alright, I know a few are going to post and say that this is a clear indication of the state of our country and this and that. But you do realize that this sort of stupidity and nonsense has been going on as long as there have been people, right? I've had several of these instances happen to me.

 

In high school, I was checking out a book in the school library. I took it up to the counter, stood in line, and had the person electronically "zap" it to check out the book. I walked through the security turnstyles and it beeped, going off. I turned back around just as the librarian pointed her finger at me and said, "I CAUGHT YOU!!!!!!"

 

I said, "You've caught what...me turning around and making sure the book is checked out properly?"

 

"YOU WERE TRYING TO STEAL A BOOK!! I WILL REPORT YOU TO ADMINISTRATION!!"

 

"I just went through this line and checked out the book? You don't remember this? You don't remember zapping this?"

 

"DON'T YOU TALK BACK TO ME!! I CAUGHT YOU! I CAUGHT YOU! YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO THE OFFICE!!!!!!" She began calling the office.

 

I responded, "Oh. You know what might make it easier is if you know who I am. Here's my ID. Write down my name."

 

Sure enough, I was called in to the counselor's office. I explained her the above. She said that she'd have to call my parent. She began looking up the number. I said, "That's not the correct number anymore. That's her old work. Here's her new number." She called the old number anyway. They told her that she didn't work there anymore, and gave her the new number, which was of course the same number I had given her." My mother told her, "My son would never steal a library book. Why would he do that when he can check it out? If he says that he didn't steal the library book, then he didn't steal it." and then hung up on the counselor.

 

I could go on with another five stories like this, ranging from the time I set foot in public schools until now (I work as a high school teacher now). Stupidity has been around since the beginning of time. It's just that for most of our history, people couldn't blog about it.

[UstadKhanAli]

By the way, for the rest of the school year, I tormented that particular librarian when she was on duty, who was furious that I hadn't been punished for "stealing". I would peel the bar codes off the spines of the book, put 'em on paper airplanes, and sail them through the detectors, setting off the alarm. Much like a hamster in a stimulus-response experiment, she took the bait every time, running out to see if someone had stolen a book.

[UstadKhanAli]

As I mentioned, I work in a high school. One large problem right now are students videotaping or recording what the teacher is saying in class with their iPhones or similar devices and posting them on YouTube. Furthermore, what students occasionally do is try and antagonize the teacher and capture the response for all posterity. This has led to one teacher being fired at our school already because a recording was made and then edited to twist it out of context. Even after the original recording was brought to light, the teacher was not re-hired, and the student remained in school.

[Philter]

Alright, I know a few are going to post and say that this is a clear indication of the state of our country and this and that. But you do realize that this sort of stupidity and nonsense has been going on as long as there have been people, right? I've had several of these instances happen to me. In high school, I was checking out a book in the school library. I took it up to the counter, stood in line, and had the person electronically "zap" it to check out the book. I walked through the security turnstyles and it beeped, going off. I turned back around just as the librarian pointed her finger at me and said, "I CAUGHT YOU!!!!!!" I said, "You've caught what...me turning around and making sure the book is checked out properly?" "YOU WERE TRYING TO STEAL A BOOK!! I WILL REPORT YOU TO ADMINISTRATION!!" "I just went through this line and checked out the book? You don't remember this? You don't remember zapping this?" "DON'T YOU TALK BACK TO ME!! I CAUGHT YOU! I CAUGHT YOU! YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO THE OFFICE!!!!!!" She began calling the office. I responded, "Oh. You know what might make it easier is if you know who I am. Here's my ID. Write down my name." Sure enough, I was called in to the counselor's office. I explained her the above. She said that she'd have to call my parent. She began looking up the number. I said, "That's not the correct number anymore. That's her old work. Here's her new number." She called the old number anyway. They told her that she didn't work there anymore, and gave her the new number, which was of course the same number I had given her." My mother told her, "My son would never steal a library book. Why would he do that when he can check it out? If he says that he didn't steal the library book, then he didn't steal it." and then hung up on the counselor. I could go on with another five stories like this, ranging from the time I set foot in public schools until now (I work as a high school teacher now). Stupidity has been around since the beginning of time. It's just that for most of our history, people couldn't blog about it.

 

We had folders for the semester's work in 11th grade english. I doodled a picture of Bill the Cat on the cover:

 

 

Next day my english teacher (late 20-something, maybe just 30 woman, fairly attractive) called me out into the hallway. She said I had drawn male genitalia on my folder, and she had already called my parents and the principle to arrange a meeting to discuss it. I told her what it was and said, "I can't believe you went behind my back about this instead of just talking to me." Her confidence was shaken but she went ahead with the meeting (guess she still didn't believe what it was.) My father brought in my Bloom County comic book with him and showed the principle Bill the Cat. The principle apologized to my parents. But the english teacher never apologized to me... instead, to save face, the next day she announced the new rule, "no drawing on your folders."

 

I still feel misogynistic impulses to this day when I think back on those events. I imagine it would have been even worse in Catholic schools full of nuns.

[Jeff Leites]

Next day my english teacher (late 20-something, maybe just 30 woman, fairly attractive) called me out into the hallway. She said I had drawn male genitalia on my folder

 

Hummm... There does appear to be something kind of subliminal there.

[Vito Corleone]

http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/130547/kid_punished_for_pizza_slice 10 year old in Tenn. punished for chewing his pizza into the shape of a pistol, and pointing it at other students. He was turned in by his classmates. Another Columbine averted. Be careful when you point you finger. Make sure your thumb is down!

 

There are so many things that are probably wrong with the way this story ended up being reported but hey...none of them are as good as being "outraged!" about a kid getting in trouble for his pizza-slice looking like a gun.

 

Read the story more closely: he got in trouble for THREATENING OTHER STUDENTS. Now, that could mean many things and take many forms and could very well--and most likely does--have NOTHING AT ALL TO DO with the fact that he had a slice-of-pizza-in-the-shape-of-a-gun in his hand at the time. This may seem even MORE "insane" to you, but kids have been known to be called into the principal's office and had their parents called in for being verbally and physically threatening to other students while holding NOTHING AT ALL! Imagine THAT!

 

Could it actually be that this kid is on permanent "silent lunch" because he was being loud and obnoxious with his MOUTH and his BODY as well as with his pizza slice?

 

But something like that isn't nearly as blog-worthy as saying it was because the kid had a pizza-slice-shaped-like-a-gun in his hand at the time, now is it?

[Gus Lozada]

By the way, for the rest of the school year, I tormented that particular librarian when she was on duty, who was furious that I hadn't been punished for "stealing". I would peel the bar codes off the spines of the book, put 'em on paper airplanes, and sail them through the detectors, setting off the alarm.

 

:lol: Genius :phil:

[Gus Lozada]

http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/130547/kid_punished_for_pizza_slice 10 year old in Tenn. punished for chewing his pizza into the shape of a pistol, and pointing it at other students. He was turned in by his classmates. Another Columbine averted. Be careful when you point you finger. Make sure your thumb is down!

 

That is REALLY stupid. Period.

[Beck]

Some pizza place should capitalize on this story and start making gun shaped pizzas. I remember a few years ago a student getting in trouble for drawing a picture of a gun. Jeez, when I was in elementary school one of my friends (who is now a city cop) and I would make handguns out of playdough and have gun battles around the classroom during recess. Things sure have changed.

[blue2blue]

At my grade school in the 50s, you'd get in trouble if you lifted your food above your mouth.

 

The men's dean of my high school threatened to keep me from graduating with my class because my hair touched the tops of my ears and my collar in 1969. Meanwhile, some of the coaches -- including the coach who pulled me into the dean's office -- were loading the athletes up with steroids.

 

 

There may be some pretty stupid people around, some of them in education (a less than divine irony, I'll admit) -- but they've been around since the beginning and, no doubt, they'll be around 'til the end.

[rjt]

I'm torn. A slice of thin crust wouldn't fool anyone, but a Chicago style stuffed pizza..... that MIGHT be really dangerous!

 

On the stupid stories note. I was kind of the "invisible kid" in school and graduated very young. So, not being in trouble much I was surprised one day when a teacher threw an eraser at me in class for "reading too fast." Apparently, I had read past the end of the assignment and not closed my book. That will teach me to......, wait, what was that supposed to teach me???

[Vito Corleone]

 

At my grade school in the 50s, you'd get in trouble if you lifted your food above your mouth. The men's dean of my high school threatened to keep me from graduating with my class because my hair touched the tops of my ears and my collar in 1969.

 

 

I called into the principal's office and was told to cut my hair when I was in middle school in the mid 70s.

 

I find it noteworthy however that most of the people most outraged by the apparent over-reaching in this pizza-slice story are probably the same people upset that there isn't as much discipline in public schools as there used to be.

[Beck]

 

...I was surprised one day when a teacher threw an eraser at me in class for "reading too fast." Apparently, I had read past the end of the assignment and not closed my book. That will teach me to......, wait, what was that supposed to teach me???

 

 

Same lesson the pizza offender learned... that adults can be irrational. And also in your case, learn how to duck because an eraser can put your eye out. I had a teacher with a bad temper in 7th grade. He once threw his pointer stick (whatever that thing is called) across the room like a spear right past the head of someone who was talking in class. It hit the blackboard with a bang and put a crack in it. Funny thing when you're a kid you don't think to report about teacher misconduct... at least we didn't then. We just lived in fear during that class, never knowing what he would do next.

 

Later when I was in high school one fall a friend and I emptied a bunch of leaf bags into his car, completely filling up the passenger compartment, front and back to the ceiling with wet leaves. But that was because once when my dog was chasing his car he opened his car door knocking my dog to the ground. After that we caught wind that he was sitting in his car at night waiting to catch the vandals who did it. So I hammered nails into two boards one night and crawled behind his car with him in it and placed one in front of each rear tire. Took me about 30 minutes to slowly crawl from the last good tree I could hide behind to his car.

 

The real problem is that abusive teachers never learn. Sooner or later they

[Phait]

GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

By the way, for the rest of the school year, I tormented that particular librarian when she was on duty, who was furious that I hadn't been punished for "stealing". I would peel the bar codes off the spines of the book, put 'em on paper airplanes, and sail them through the detectors, setting off the alarm. Much like a hamster in a stimulus-response experiment, she took the bait every time, running out to see if someone had stolen a book.

 

[Anderton]

In Austin, I was asked to take the gun out of my laptop. Now, bear in mind this is a PC Audio Labs laptop that's about 1" thick, and that includes the keyboard.

 

The guy was really insistent that I open it up. I told him I couldn't open it without tools, and besides, I've never opened it before so I couldn't guarantee I could. Of course, he KNEW that as I put the gun in there, I was BSing him.

 

I started getting frustrated and said I may not be an expert on guns, but I really, really didn't think there are any guns that are under 3/4" wide. It started getting ugly because this a**hole was insisting I open the computer, with me insisting I wasn't going to open it.

 

Finally his supervisor came over to see what was happening, as I was obviously some kind of dangerous person. I explained the situation and said really now, how could a gun be in there? Mr. TSA supervisor looked at the X-ray, and saw the...L-shaped circuit board.

 

Not to distract from the most excellent teacher torment posts, but it just goes to show how really stupid some martinets can be.

[philbo]

We had folders for the semester's work in 11th grade english. I doodled a picture of Bill the Cat on the cover: Next day my english teacher (late 20-something, maybe just 30 woman, fairly attractive) called me out into the hallway. She said I had drawn male genitalia on my folder, and she had already called my parents and the principle to arrange a meeting to discuss it. I told her what it was and said, "I can't believe you went behind my back about this instead of just talking to me." Her confidence was shaken but she went ahead with the meeting (guess she still didn't believe what it was.) My father brought in my Bloom County comic book with him and showed the principle Bill the Cat. The principle apologized to my parents. But the english teacher never apologized to me... instead, to save face, the next day she announced the new rule, "no drawing on your folders." I still feel misogynistic impulses to this day when I think back on those events. I imagine it would have been even worse in Catholic schools full of nuns.

 

It was way worse in a Catholic school. The nuns each had an 18" brass ruler they called the golden rule, which they used to rap your knuckles and raise welts if they caught you doing satanic things like cracking your knuckles or daydreaming a little bit. My family was the school charity case - we were extremely poor, and were surrounded by kids of lawyers, car dealers and doctors, and we were treated accordingly.

 

I was just extremely grateful that I was never asked to be an altar boy - my friend Jimmy was, and he ended up becoming gay and dying of AIDS in his early 20s. "Father Flannigan, what's the penance for a blow job?" "A Butterfinger bar and $5, just like last week" - that sort of thing.

 

On the good side, I learned to fight hard, fast and dirty at a very young age, which served me better than anything else I learned there...

 

 

On a side note, I think God really loves stupid people; look at how many he made! I suppose they're more amusing than the other kind...

[rjt]

 

Same lesson the pizza offender learned... that adults can be irrational.

 

 

Back then I couldn't even conceive that an adult could be irrational.... much less a teacher. How much I have learned. Working in a hospital I see the results of irrational decisions on a daily basis....and I hear (usually over lunch!!) that it is even worse in the ER. Humans are such amazing creatures.

[chevybusa]

LOL Reminds me of the time I got sent to the office and had my parents called in first grade when me and a buddy of mine pretended to use our opened lunchboxes like machine guns haha

[Jeff Leites]

 

Back then I couldn't even conceive that an adult could be irrational.... much less a teacher.

 

 

My problem was that I never spoke up for myself.

Once, in 8th grade, I was held after school with several others who were talking during an assembly. I wasn't talking, I was just fidgeting around too much, and the teacher actually let me leave before the others, because I was just fidgeting. What I didn't speak up about, was that I was having terrible stomach cramps during the assembly, and I was just trying to get comfortable. It just didn't occur to me to defend myself against a teacher.

[GuitarPlayerFL]

By the way, for the rest of the school year, I tormented that particular librarian when she was on duty, who was furious that I hadn't been punished for "stealing". I would peel the bar codes off the spines of the book, put 'em on paper airplanes, and sail them through the detectors, setting off the alarm. Much like a hamster in a stimulus-response experiment, she took the bait every time, running out to see if someone had stolen a book.

 

Harmony Central needs to have a "Like" button picture to post.