Saturday, May 10, 2014

The Magic of an Apology


Our weather is being wildly unpredictable again. It rained for most of this week, and then yesterday -- when I lugged my umbrella to work in an abundance of caution -- it was sunny and breezy. I got my hopes up for the weekend and some photography, but this morning it's rainy again. As a vendor on Portobello Road said as we walked past and Olga gave him a damp, plaintive look: "It's a terrible wet morning for a beautiful dog, isn't it?!"

Remember how I went ballistic at work on Thursday? The back story on the incident: A high school boy got "pantsed," or had his shorts pulled down, in the middle of the library. That's what prompted him to yell the f-word, which I heard. (I didn't see the pantsing because the kids were out of my line of vision.)

Well, yesterday morning I was dreading work. I walked in ruminating about how hard it is to discipline the kids and how underpaid I am relative to my angst. Then, during the course of the day, two of the kids involved apologized to me! It's amazing how an apology, an acknowledgement from them that they were at least aware that their behavior was lacking, made me feel much better.

At first I thought their apologies were spontaneous, but then another teacher confessed that she had demanded them. (She'd been standing in the hallway when I threw the kids out of the library.) Still, they turned my day around.

I am continually growing and learning in this job, even if it's not always pleasant!

(Photo: Lordship Lane, Tottenham.)

5 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

Wow! It's amazing and wonderful that they apologized. That does make all the difference.

Reya Mellicker said...

I believe in apologizing! It helps even if the apology is coerced.

ain't for city gals said...

Maybe everybody learned a little lesson from the outburst...

ellen abbott said...

well, yes, kids do need to be taught to apologize. I know a lot of adults that still need that lesson. hopefully someday they will do it spontaneously. glad you are feeling better about it.

The Bug said...

Our weather has been mercurial too. I'm trying to remind my self that it's USUALLY like this every spring, but of course I start worrying about climate change...

Glad you got your apologies - I know you're glad to have to feeling of worry over with. I often find that when I'm really dreading something about work it's never as bad as I fear. Though that's probably because I'm a drama queen :) (see prior paragraph)