My son had the audacity to tell me to go ahead and send the money in. Okay, at first I heard him ask.. then I heard the voice of a femaie and he said, "Just pay it she'll pay you on Friday when she gets her paycheck."
He apologized the next day and explained he was getting it from both sides because she was yammering at him basically for me to just pay it.
The field trip was last Wednesday.. what day was that? The 18th or something. Kiddo got sick and started to miss school on Tuesday. The timing of her dad working was okay and my husband was here which was good because I was in the middle of a prep for a colonoscopy. Plus, this comes after me being sick for two days following flu and pneumonia shots.
By Wednesday, the day after the procedure, I was inordinately beat. Four days with no food.. and the unpleasantry of the procedure left me needing a bit of recoup time but Kiddo was sick the next day too.. this time with a fever as well. So she missed the field trip.
Her mother.. her MOTHER went to the field trip anyway. I really could have used the day off but the Kiddo was sick and had to stay somewhere. During the day of the field trip the mother called me and asked me if the Kiddo was sick.
It was one of those stare at the phone moments.. did I just hear that? Then, as if correcting herself she asked if she had the sniffles. I answered her, vague and with as few words as possible because I know this girl, this was either a fishing expedition.. something. It lacked something and I can't place my finger on it. I tend to go with my gut and answer as little as possible when something sets my internal alarms off.
I asked my husband that day why did he think Crystal went on the field trip? I know what I thought and I needed ONE person to tell me I'm wrong. He believed it was to make herself look good to the teacher. That's what I thought.
Needless to say she never paid me back. The school paid me back the Kiddo's part of the field trip but ultimately I paid for the mother to go.
Then when I went to pick the kiddo up from school the teacher was telling me how nice it was of the mother to go ahead and go on the field trip. She further told me how worried she was about the Kiddo...
I didn't say anything beyond, agreeing it was nice of her to go and that I paid for it. I had no idea what to say. My dad always told me that if I have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all. He didn't tell me how to respond in such circumstances! That was the best I could respond with since the teacher said it more than once.
I told her dad what the teacher said and my other son was sitting there. It was going to be kindof a.. "I'm wrong for thinking it wierd that Crystal went" thing and for thinking it sucked. But my son's both said.. basically.. and I'm not quoting verbatum.. "her daughter is sick and she's at the field trip, that's wrong."
So I'm not alone in thinking it was just wrong. I did not take it far enough to ask if he figured she pulled the wool over the teacher's eyes... after all, the teacher only knows what she sees. One can't blame the teacher other than.. does she know this mother's sick daughter was taken care of by an almost equally sick grandmother?? Oh, no the teacher doesn't know I was sick.. neither does my son because I didn't want him to worry. And.. technically all that was wrong with me was a continued inability to eat very much which had left me that weak tired kindof feeling. But I wanted him to feel comfortable that his daughter would be okay while he worked.
Let me say here what I wanted to tell the teacher. "Crystal's daughter was at home with a fever that was spiking over 101 degrees. Her dad came home from work and took her to the doctor and tried to arrange the appointment so Crystal could go but for some reason she couldn't make a 3:00 appointment when the field trip was over at 2:00. Yes, it was good that Crystal went to the field trip while her daughter was sick and left me to take care of her. And the woman was so worried that she only called once to ask if she was sick; as if verifying that she was home from school for a valid reason and not becauase she was worried. Never, not once did she even call and ask to talk to her sick daughter. But, yes.. it was good she went to the field trip.. on MY dime.. she can't even pay seven bucks for herself."
Mean and angry? Probably. But I don't understand it. I don't get why from the beginning she did not ASK nicely if I'd front the money instead of bitch at my son for me to pay.. like it's MY obligation. If I'm going to the field trip I pay for it. If my son is going to the field trip HE pays for it.. so it makes sense to me that if she is going I pay for it.. right? Where is the common sense in that??
I wasn't upset until the teacher was telling me how it was good that the mother went. But it's not the teacher's fault. And I don't mind that the kiddo was with me.. but if you want to say someone did a good thing.. how about her dad who, during breaks from work came in to sit with his sick daughter, or put her in the bath, take her to the doctor, worry about the young girl and probably, call to say hello and see if she feels okay when he couldn't be there and..(cause I've seen him do this before,) hold her hair out of her face while she vomits.. THAT ladies and gentleman is the one that did good not one who attended a field trip with her daughter's class.
That said, at least she didn't leave them short a chaperone.. but how GOOD and MOTHERLY would it have been to say, "Can you (who paid for this anyway) take my place so they have chaperones and I'll sit home with my daughter?" School would have had the chaperone.. she'd have done the RIGHT thing and I wouldn't be writing this.
