Whine About it Thursday!
Since we didn’t get an oppportunity to whine yesterday, we’re doing it today. 
 Here’s mine.
And I’m dragging out my handy 
for this one.
Three tests today and a sick child! And not just little tests either. Math, history and science. In the first place, according to the handbook they aren’t supposed to have three tests in one day, and in the second place they’re not supposed to have tests on Thursdays at all. My kids attend a Christian school. Most kids attend church on Wednesday nights, thus the unobserved rule.Â
At any rate, because he cannot afford to miss three 
tests, he’s going to school this morning sick along with a note which will instruct his teachers to put him in the library and let him take all three of his tests so that he can finish and I can go get him. And he’s going to miss baseball practice AND study hall.
Argh!!!
February 15th, 2007 at 8:57 am
Rhonda, this sort of thing gets me so mad! As a former teacher, there is no excuse for setting kids up to fail.
My daughter was home sick 2-1/2 out of 4 days last week (they had a day off for the fair…and she was still sick) and comes back to a math test that takes 2 days for the kids to complete. I wrote a very pointed note, insisting that the teacher give my daughter an extra 2-1/2 days to make up the test. She made her take the test with the rest of the kids (grrr) but she is giving her extra time to finish…and with me there, extra review time. She missed the whole review! I’m sorry, but I’m not sending my kid to school contagious and with a 101 fever just so she doesn’t fall behind in math.
Having sick kids come back and catching them up is a pain–I know from experience–but it was better than having a sick, miserable kid in the classroom, that’s for sure. A couple of afternoons and you’re all caught up. The only time I got annoyed was when I knew the kids weren’t really sick.
February 15th, 2007 at 9:55 am
You HAVE pointed out this major rules infraction to the principal, haven’t you?
My only whine is the weather. I’m tired of being cold. I hate to see what my utility bill is going to look like. I have arthritis in my foot and it’s hurt for weeks now and I want it to stop. I see teenys snow flurries out my window. Either stop or snow a foot and let us enjoy it.
Even better, get warm dammit!
February 15th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Amen, Julie, on sending sick kids to school. They just give it to someone else, who passes it to another child and eventually your kid gets it again.
I even read a news article about a growing problem in the corporate world called “presenteeism” — people coming to work so sick they can hardly hold their heads up. They are so afraid of being let go or not being promoted they are willing to endanger themselves and others just to be at work. Some states have legislation in the works to require employers to give workers a set number of days of paid sick leave yearly so they can stay home when sick with no fear of losing their job or losing pay.
February 15th, 2007 at 10:07 am
We get a whopping 32 hours a year. Two bad sinus infections, must less a nasty flu or minor surgery and you’re out of it in no time. I’m already down by half getting sick the first week in January. Grumble, grumble…
February 15th, 2007 at 10:22 am
So far I haven’t run into the homework thing but then my girls are 5 and 2. We took Sweet Pea out of school for Disney World and her teacher said she didn’t have to make up any work, just to make sure she enjoyed the experience.
I love Mrs. Kim!
And I seriously need to whine about my 2 1/2 yr old. Apparently the terrible twos have set in. My adorable, loving child yelled please at the top of her lungs this morning for five minutes straight because she wanted juice. Now I have no problem getting her juice and she did say please but not when she’s screaming it at me! Sorta defeats the purpose.
Kira
February 15th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Julie, sorry to hear your baby was sick last week. Bless her heart. And you’re right, setting them up to fail is just plain ridiculous. My son is a good student. He comes in from school and immediately sits down and takes care of his homework. He wants to do well and agonizing over things when he doesn’t. Between the rigorous baseball schedule we weren’t prepared for and the curriculum, he’s been one whipped little puppy of late. Thankfully, he’s not running a fever, but then he rarely does. He’s just nauseated and his stomach is hurting. No fun. :/
Marilyn, I sent an email first thing this morning.
And I’m right there with you on the being cold. I had to pump gas this morning and nearly froze to death. 
Andrea, I think that’s about what my dh gets. Of course, he hasn’t missed a day of work for being sick in two years, so… I wonder if he has presenteeism.
Kira, don’t know what to say about your two-year-old except that she’s…two.
Clearly you have reinforced the say please and thank you’s though. That’s a start. 
February 15th, 2007 at 11:03 am
My whine is similar to Marilyn’s. I’M TOO COLD!!! We have wind chills of -13, my boss won’t plow the parking lot (the snow is now almost to my waist) so I have to hunt each morning for a spot to park and pray I don’t get a parking ticket and he only shovled part of the front doorway. Now I have a mound of packed ice and snow to trudge over every day - not to mention our poor customers trying to get in the office. We’re an Insurance Office for goodness sakes! We preach at people about keeping liability hazards to a minimum. I even dislocated my shoulder trying to shovel the mess in front of our door with that poor excuse for a shovel he has here!
I’m beginning to think men are like pets, fun to play with but I don’t want to own one!!
Thanks for letting me bitch. Now I feel a little better.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Okay, here is my personal expericence with sick leave for a well known magazine/book company here in AL. I got sick leave, however, if I called in sick saying my son or I was sick, I would be written up. I was to have known this the day before so the company could prepare for my being out the next day*&^%$# Even though I had sick leave on the books, didn’t matter. Their thought process was “you are production (other words - telephone customer service representative) and you are here to produce”. I felt that everyone at that company was production otherwise why do THEY need a job too? Where I work now, that is TOTALLY not an issue. They are willing to work with me and vice versa. Thanks for the opportunity to Whine about it Wednesday - just a day late
.
February 15th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
My whine for the day? Husbands who make you feel stupid.
This morning I was running late to meet Kim. My daughter forgot her lunch box, so I had to run it by the school. Then I went to drop the son off at his great-grandmothers for her to watch him. I was in a hurry, so Guess what I did? I locked him in the car!!!
First of all, I panicked. He’s only 2 and a half. Then I called my husband at work, only a mile away. Do you know the first thing he told me when I asked him to bring me his key? NO! Now, my husband owns a BBQ restaurant, so I understand him not wanting to leave a burning fire for no reason. Except I had a good reason and no way to go get the key myself. So get over it and bring me the d*mn key!
Finally he went and got me the key and showed up with an attitude. Look, I know I messed up, but in the 11 years we’ve been married I’ve only locked my keys in the car once before. Give me a break, okay? I feel stupid enough without you having to reinforce it to me.
So I made myself feel worse this afternoon by blowing my diet and eating 5 samoas. And I was doing so well….
February 15th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Lizabeth, that *is* too cold. Eek!
Ginger, that was definitely a messed up system. Glad where you work now has a better policy.
Danniele, speaking as someone who once locked her 4-month old son in the car–with it running, no less–I feel your pain. Your dh should have cut you a little slack. And Samoas are yummy. Wish I had one right now….
February 15th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I bought 10 boxes of girl scout cookies from my friend’s daughter. Now I have to eat them. 3 boxes are samoas, so if you’re desperate enough to drive to my house, you’re welcome to some, Rhonda…
Danniele - if he had locked his keys in the car with Little Man inside, he’d expect you to drop everything. Of course, he *wouldn’t* do anything that stupid right? Yeah, whatever…it happens.