Never say "Yes" to a question you don't completely hear.

The other night I was dining on some chicken at Chick-Fil-A. Hmmm...imagine that? Well, as I sat in the booth savoring the spices of my poultry sandwich, I was not alone. A friend and collegue from work joined me. We were talking about this and that when she brought up an event that happened at school earlier that day. The Marine Corps Jazz band came and put on this amazing performance for our students. She expressed how much she enjoyed the "New Orleans" style music. I had to agree, it was fantastic! However, her facial expression changed from one of excitement and pleasure to disgust within a nano-second as she brought up a particular happening during the performance. But, before I tell you what that "happening" was, let me do some prep work to add some flare to her uprising.

As mentioned, the Marine Corps Jazz band played some awesome tunes for our students the that day. The music was loud, the teachers and students were clapping, and everyone was in good spirits. At one point in the performance the band danced down the center aisle playing their tunes. They convinced some teachers to join them. It was great fun! No, I wasn't one of the "dancing" teachers. Moving on. The performance continued and the teachers glided back to their duty stations making sure no one got out of hand. The end was near. This is where the story takes an unexpected turn.

As the band was playing their final piece, backing down the middle isle, a student came up to me. Remember, the music was loud so it was hard to hear. I leaned down to hear what he was asking, but couldn't understand him. So, in teacher fashion, I said, "WHAT? I can't hear you!" He repeated the question and this is what I heard. " Mrs. Brown, can I rown?" Being the expert interpreter of children's questions, I took that to mean , "Can I go to the bathroom?" My response was "Sure, go ahead." The performance was almost over anyway. And "go ahead" he did. Right to the middle aisle in front of the freshly starched Marine Corps Jazz Band. Not the bathroom, that is, but a break dance move called "the worm". Yep, doing "the worm" in front of the Jazz Band while everyone was watching. My jaw dropped to the ground, but I couldn't say a word. I gave him permission.

Now, back to Chick-Fil-A. My collegue and friend went on to explain how appauled she was at the sight of that student doing "the worm". She didn't know it was my student. "How disrespectful." She iterated. " I can't believe a student would do something like that!" I winced, not because I was offended, because I was caught. At this point I'm thinking should I agree with her and cover-up my sin or confess. Well, I did the admirable thing and confessed. She gave me this look like, "What?" I quickly defended myself by saying, "The music was loud. I thought he was asking to go to the bathroom."


To all those who desire to to work with children, never say "yes" to a question that you don't completely hear.

LOL!!!!