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Do you ever feel intimidated by other forumites?


Road Runner

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Is it really the person ...or the topic?  Mind you, I don't open up all topics on  The Cafe.  

I am probably a more direct person. I am like this in real life....a tendency to be a bit more transparent (you can see through me like a ghost. :D  ).  Probably because of my family upbringing...and probably over the yrs., I've found it better to be more clear-cut (like cutting a lawn).  Or maybe I don't make much sense here.

That's ok. I figure life is short...just say it nicely so one is understood. And walk away/back to  listen.

A good friend with whom she and I reunited after 30 yr. absence, told me that she liked/wanted me in her life because she could always count me to tell "like it is" or at least say clearly what I thought.  She found her other good friends prone to more circumlocution/walking around their words/feelings and she couldn't get their honest opinion.

I'm starting noticing this alot in the workplace. I think for govn't employees working the  bureaucracy for last 20+ yrs., there's waaaay too much circumlocution. Just say it nicely and honestly, for god's sake. We gotta get things done rather than prance around with words for the next half hr. Sheesh!!

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54 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

No problem.  Most teachers and principals were scary people when I was a kid.  I guess I have never gotten over it.  :unsure:

I don't see that for the forumites who were educators. But then 2 long-time friends in person, have been high school teachers.  As for Dr. Mick...he just likes to talk in detail. (I have that bad habit too.). 

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24 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I didn't know you went to catholic school.

Back in the 50's and 60's, public schools weren't like they are today.  At least not where I attended.  Very strict rules.  I even got paddled once when I was in first grade for laughing and talking in the boy's restroom.  I s___ you not!

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22 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Well that is interesting, as you intimidate me. 

I see Zephyr like a St. Bernard dog..friendly and helpful. he does his job..

I worked in an Ont. govn't agency for 9 yrs..where the engineers worked with police and provincial forensics...this was for fire deaths and arson cases.  Also some of our staff were former police officers.

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57 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

Back in the 50's and 60's, public schools weren't like they are today.  At least not where I attended.  Very strict rules.  I even got paddled once when I was in first grade for laughing and talking in the boy's restroom.  I s___ you not!

Just once? For me, not so much in elementary school, but many times in junior high school and high school. I deserved most of them.

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16 hours ago, Road Runner said:

Back in the 50's and 60's, public schools weren't like they are today.  At least not where I attended.  Very strict rules.  I even got paddled once when I was in first grade for laughing and talking in the boy's restroom.  I s___ you not!

I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m also aware that schools have been a source of trauma for a lot of people, for varying reasons. It’s a long shadow. :( 

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18 hours ago, Road Runner said:

I do.  Teachers and ex-teachers scare the crap out of me.  :o

Boo!

I used to be scared that other teachers I had made fun of in the classroom were going to lynch me one day.

I had a fellow science teacher named Barry Roman - who unfortunately passed away about a year before he was going to retire.

Barry was almost a dead ringer for the actor Wayne Knight, who played Post Office worker "Newman" on Seinfeld and Sally's cop boyfriend, Don Orville, on "3rd Rock from the Sun."

While Seinfeld was still in production, I told the kids - who knew Barry was from New York - total lies about him.

I said Mr. Roman, before he became a teacher and took a job in better-paying Maryland, used to work for the Post Office in New York where he often met Jerry Seinfeld, who Roman used to crack up.

When Seinfeld planned his TV show, he wanted a character like our Mr. Roman.  But he couldn't use Roman's name without paying a royalty so he needed to come up with a NEW name.  So "Roman" became "Newman."

It made so much sense to them that the teenagers bought it hook, line, and sinker and the story spread like wildfire among our 2900 students.  When Barry would be walking down the crowded halls between classes, kids would be calling out, "Newman!"

I don't think the kids ever gave me away, though, so he never knew I was the devil who started it.

Wayne Knight as "Newman:"

Wayne Knight (Creator) - TV Tropes

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17 hours ago, Mr Beanz said:

Yes, most of them are 6'4, solid muscle, lift 500 pounds and ride their bikes at 24mph average speeds. :lol:

I think that fits me to a T!  I'm also very handsome. And am a Mensa member, but you wouldn't know it from all the super hot broads that hang on my every word.

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I don’t get the fear of teachers thing?  For the most part I had good relationships with my kids teachers, administrators & coaches. All but one were good teachers. During my 8 years as a booster I interacted with them a lot.  I was on their HS campus 2-3X a week for one thing or another. 

 

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26 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I don’t get the fear of teachers thing?  

When I was site union rep at a middle school, I spent a lot of time intervening with a couple of teachers who were on the principal’s transfer list. My role was to coach them how to stop shouting at students. Students were afraid they’d just go off. After they practiced actual classroom management, and changed the tone of the classroom, they could stay in their position.

One of them couldn’t manage students. She was transferred and took a position as librarian at a different school. It was where mr. was teaching at the time. She followed the retirement of an amazing librarian who was kind and super organized. Within a few months, the library was in disarray and kids didn’t want to go there. After that year, she finally agreed to seek employment somewhere else. 

Across the years my students have told me all kinds of stories about teachers and about other students who made school horrible. Public, private, parochial…at all levels. And I’ve heard stories (experienced) parents who are tough customers and lead with shouts. I saw a teacher shove a student against the wall of his portable. I saw a parent cock his fist back to punch a principal. I had a colleague throw a glass of iced tea in my face when nobody else was around, 

People just being rude, mean, frustrated, desperate, angry, narrow… Having a bad day and blowing it all over others.

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2 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

When I was site union rep at a middle school, I spent a lot of time intervening with a couple of teachers who were on the principal’s transfer list. My role was to coach them how to stop shouting at students. Students were afraid they’d just go off. After they practiced actual classroom management, and changed the tone of the classroom, they could stay in their position.

One of them couldn’t manage students. She was transferred and took a position as librarian at a different school. It was where mr. was teaching at the time. She followed the retirement of an amazing librarian who was kind and super organized. Within a few months, the library was in disarray and kids didn’t want to go there. After that year, she finally agreed to seek employment somewhere else. 

Across the years my students have told me all kinds of stories about teachers and about other students who made school horrible. Public, private, parochial…at all levels. And I’ve heard stories (experienced) parents who are tough customers and lead with shouts. I saw a teacher shove a student against the wall of his portable. I saw a parent cock his fist back to punch a principal. I had a colleague throw a glass of iced tea in my face when nobody else was around, 

People just being rude, mean, frustrated, desperate, angry, narrow… Having a bad day and blowing it all over others.

Wow! I guess my experiences with teachers has been pretty tame.  I didn’t have great teachers in HS but I didn’t have any problems either.  

I had the good fortune of having many great professors in college. 

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14 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Wow! I guess my experiences with teachers has been pretty tame.  I didn’t have great teachers in HS but I didn’t have any problems either.  

I had the good fortune of having many great professors in college. 

I think you're "young".  For the most part, out of dozens of teachers, only a couple/few were awful people.  Most were pretty nice - even the nuns. Teachers in the 70s and 80s were definitely part of a more supervised system.

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Maybe there’s an age-to-worldview aspect. Maybe regional differences in what schools allow/ban on campus. And curricular differences, like whether the course has a tightly structured scope and sequence linked to a test or whether there’s no set sequence and no high-stakes assessment. 
I can think of a lot of reasons why some teachers are more tightly wound than others. 

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