Sweating, Fights, Cookies

Exciting week at work.  I broke up my first fight at school on Wednesday.  Our school has no security guards, and we have no training on what to do for a fight, so when all the kids in my class started yelling "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and pointing out to the hall, I was less than thrilled.  I mean, it's not like I have spent any time in or near fights.  I couldn't even tell who was fighting so I just started pushing kids out of the way, faintly wondering if I was going to be sued.  Finally figured out that two girls were brawling over some guy.  The female teacher who used to manage a strip club, and I'm assuming has experience with catfights, had the aggressor in a bear hug and was having a hard time controlling her.  I tried to help subdue her, and got kicked and thrown against the wall by the annoying girl, who I vaguely remembered because I had to yank her out of the restroom by her hair last year because she was trying to start a fight.  Finally, a male member of the faculty showed up and had to tackle the girl to get her to calm down. 

Seniors who I hadn't seen since last year were suddenly stopping by all week to chit chat.  And then they would try to get the lowdown on the fight.  Some kids said they heard that I just stood there; others heard that I tackled the girl - the high school rumor mill was hard at work.  Some of the students wanted to thank me for helping them out, and said that they were grateful to have had a teacher who taught them how to write for college.  This type of praise  is supposed to be the reason why teachers teach.  It worked on me last year, but now it just makes me feel like a sucker.  No other boss tells you that you will never ever see a raise, you will not be compensated for your degrees, nor will you ever get promoted, but you should be happy because someone will thank you for helping them.  See?  I am way too cynical for this profession.  

Delicate Hands has also been annoying me.  I think I'm going to switch his nickname; henceforth he will be known as Ladyfingers.  Although Ladyfingers annoys me, I am starting to have separation anxiety, as most days he is the only adult I talk to.

Annoying Ladyfingers Behavior

1. 
   
   Ladyfingers asked if I were giving his AP class a guest lecture on French philosophy one day because I wore a black turtleneck sweater with black pants.  (Listen, I know no one has bought a turtleneck sweater in the past decade, but this sweater is actually ten years old, but since I've only worn it twelve times before this awful freezing winter, it is not as bad as it sounds.)
2. 
   
   Ladyfingers almost got into a car accident on principle.  We were going to lunch at the sandwich place I told him about, that he now refers to as "his place," and decided to make a U-turn infront of someone who had the right of way.  He actually wagged his finger at the other driver, saying, "No no! You can clearly see that I am turning now," and just missed having my side of the car crushed by the person obeying the law.  He reasoned that there was no confusion on the other driver's part, the other guy could clearly see that Ladyfingers was going, and it was the other driver who was being a dick.  He also gleefully pointed out that his side of the car would have been fine, so he wasn't really concerned if there'd been an accident.
3. 
   
   Ladyfingers (he would so kill me if he ever found out about me calling him this) started laughing when a student told him I got manhandled in the girl fight.   
4. 
   
   Ladyfingers said he could not wait until I emailed him from CA to say that I had to take a teaching job, but only temporarily, as I go on to become a career teacher since I will be unable to get any other type of job. 

*I am feeling self-conscious because someone said my blog color scheme was ugly and it pretty much made them vomit in their mouth every time they looked at it.  Blogger doesn't have a lot of options for blue/brown color schemes, and I'm sure I could make it look better, but I would rather make people sick.  I have no idea why the spacing is so wonky, either.  I did my best to fix the spacing, but blogger ignores me.*