Same time! Same time! I don't know you.

I've got a kid that has missed everyday since the third day of school. After two weeks I got an e-mail from the mother asking me for any work that he missed. Better late than never--I guess. Speaking of timing, I got the e-mail at 10:00 and she was asking for the work at noon. Sure, not a problem. I mean it is your taxes going to my paycheck, right? I just sit at my desk until I'm summoned. Nope, I'm not busy at all with this teaching.

Actually we teachers deal with that all the time, so it's not like it was that big of a deal. We adapt. The crazy thing was that I got a second request two weeks later because the student still hasn't returned. Why is that crazy? Well because they haven't turned anything in from last time. It happens every single time, doesn't it folks? You send work home and the student comes back with none of it done. They tell you that they were too sick. Well why did you ask for it? We're usually left scrambling to get things together for them, so it's not okay to just ask for it and not do it. This isn't rehab. Admitting that you need to do homework is not half the battle.

So, I had to refuse the request for more work. Why should I give more without getting the other stuff back? They're cut off. We're going to have to do some kind of trade. I can just imagine us like two Cold War nations, standing at the opposite sides of a bridge in Berlin. When the first work gets half way across, I then would release the new work.

Man, I've got an imagination. It must be all that time I just sit at my desk, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for those make-up work e-mails to be sent to me.