Friday, February 5, 2010

The Bennies of the Job

Spot! You'll never guess who I saw tonight! Well...I went to Tambascio's, one of my favorite restaurants in town. Mr. L told me there's no cooking on my birthday. (Well inside my head, I was saying something very fresh like, no kidding. BUT! I practice what I preach. I was polite...and grateful!)

When we were in homeroom today, Eager Al was sharing about how he was planning on going to Tambascio's. So...when Mr. L wanted to go there? I thought it would be kind of fun. Eager Al, you remember him...smiles all the time, but gets that blank stare and kinda hyperventilates if you put him on the spot. Best kid in the world, though. As long as you don't ask him a thing!

Went into the restaurant...and didn't see him anywhere. I relaxed and ordered my dinner. No Spot...there are no left-overs for you! Jeesh. Well. That's when I spied Nohomework Harvey walking in the door. I gave him a little wave, but he didn't see me. I concentrated on what Mr. Lynch was saying, but I was also laughing inside my head at the funny conversation across the way. (More on that later.)

A moment later, Harv was standing at our table! And within seconds, Al was at his side! They were both smiling and standing there and the waiter was trying to get around them. And then, the owner was too. But! They...who never stop talking in the classroom, didn't know what to say to me in the outside world!! I felt like a rockstar. It was hysterical. We talked about what they were having for dinner, and what I was ordering, and then Mr. Lynched piped up with questions about the Super Bowl. After a few minutes, I told them I'd be sure to say good bye before I left.

At the table next to me, a very funny story was beginning to unfold. A table of four dinosauric types were seated there. From the moment they sat down, they were trying to outdo eachother. One was all proud of his sweater that had 1956 (1956!) knitted into it, and the other had a $10, green Dartmouth sweater (had a whole story to go with it...such a bargain!). Wife one had platinum hair implants and RED lipstick, but no lips, so it was...well, kind of messy. Wife two had a dyed reddish comb-over. Get the picture?

The waitress came to the table, and before she could even ask a question, the dinosaurs said, "We'll have separate checks!" I am not kidding you...they said it in complete unison! Then they ordered a carafe of wine, which that they wanted to split. The waitress reminded them that they wanted separate checks. They asked her how much it was, and then proceeded to tell her how she could divvy it up on the bill. The dinositas then ordered the clams casino appetizer... and yes, they were splitting those too!! So, Spot? I'm bringing in the menu and that will be Monday's math lesson for Mr. N.

Life sure gets complicated sometimes, Spot. I'm just wondering if Eager Al and NoHomework Harv will be sitting together haggling over the menu in their Dartmouth sweaters someday! And we of the 21st century teaching model will be the ones responsible for straightening them out. Perhaps it's not the math, but the social graces we should be focusing on now. What do you think, Spot?

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