Ahh, the joys of a volunteer...

So tomorrow is my day to volunteer for Alexa's teacher.  I don't think I actually help out IN the classroom, its more of a stapling sort of situation where I do paperwork that the teacher doesn't have time to do.  Which I am more than happy to do.  However..

Last week I volunteered to help set up the bulletin board for Parent Night, and I had quite a fiasco going on.  First the teacher said I could use this board in the hallway, then I get started and another teacher comes and states that she has that board and I should not be putting anything on it.  Then I go to the office to see if they have some sort of "board directory" or for heaven sakes a book about board etiquette or something.  Only to hear that the person who knows that sort of information will be back in 30 minutes..  O..K..  what am I going to do in an elementary school for 30 minutes?  So I wander around..  now mind you, I had an early morning meeting so I am dressed to the nines with my suit and my killer hooker boots, so I am totally rocking the elementary school hallways here :)

Luckily I run into a lady from the PTO whom I met during the first PTO meeting (of which I was the ONLY parent there who was not a board member...) she kept me entertained and we had a good time chatting.  I like her, she is very down to earth and funny, and she didn't even mention my ridiculous outfit..  but I digress.

So after the mandatory 30 minutes, I go back to the office and the lady is STILL not there..  UGH!  I have now been volunteering for an hour and I haven't gotten anything done.  So I sit in a chair where the office people can see me impatiently kicking my heels..  I get no respect..

I go back to Alexa's classroom and grab my granola bar because I am darn near starving from all the calories I have burnt with my impatient pacing.  And the teacher tells me to just keep doing what I am doing and don't worry about the other teacher.  But I feel sort of stuck in the middle because Alexa's teacher is new and I don't want it to seem like she's bossy or stepping on any of the other teachers toes, so I decide to go directly to the 'clowns mouth' and go back to the office to hear the directions for myself.

Once I get the right office worker to help me she comes out with a diagram of all the boards, their locations, and the respective teacher that has that space.  OMG, 45 minutes later she tells me I can use a different board than the only I've already started and I've been asked if I am a new teacher FOUR times (which I kindly deny while pointing at my VISITOR name tag... and without shouting, "NO who would want to work with you people?!?!?!")  So I try to re-think how I am going to un-staple the part that I already have stapled, and move it to this other wall..  when another 2nd grade teacher comes up and says that I can use the board I am using, and that the teachers have already worked it out..  Okay, back to ground zero.

But I got it done, and when I was finished the original teacher who caused such a fuss came and said it looked nice, and I politely said that I was sorry for the confusion and I hope it all works out in her favor.

I CANNOT believe elementary school politics.  Those teachers were practically brawling over corkboards!

So here's hoping that tomorrow is better, however the school staplers suck..  Seriously 4 staples before you get one that works - I told the office that they need to get a Swingline and they'll never have to replace them again..  The bureaucracy of it all - I may just bring my own stapler with me..  Might be easier and faster that way.