I have always appreciated office staff in schools. They really know what's going on and they bail teachers out from all kinds of difficulties. They also have a lot of pupil contact.
Teachers seem to have the fear that if they for one second they let somebody away with something , the whole world will fall in and all students will want to be allowed to get away with the same thing.
One example is being late for school. Most schools have a very stringent late policy. There always are some students who are habitually late. Well yes, if a kid is late he needs a late slip to get into his class and he will be punished by having to stay after school. That's supposed to make him not come late and most of the time it works.
So one of the fine people in the office has to look after lates. One person we had looked after the front desk to handle school visitors, kids and teachers. And yes she handled lates. She was good at it.
I happened to be in the office one day when she was having a kid fill out a late slip. The kid was a big guy and a little rough around the edges. While the kid was filling out the late slip our lady was giving him a running talk as to why he shouldn't be late. It went something like this. " Honey, you can't be late all the time. Honey, you have to get to school on time, Honey, you will have to get up earlier." Well the poor kid had probably never been called honey before. He was uncomfortable and rocked back and forth with each "HONEY". So it was funny to see this kid's reaction to the secretary's pep talk about being late.
I've often wondered if the kid was ever late again of if he wanted the "HONEY" treatment again. This kid certainly got much more for being late than just a late slip.
By the way, I got the hone treatment a time or two and I wasn't even late. That's just the way this lady was. She was excellent in handling the front desk...the first point of contact in the school.
As a kid who used to be late from time to time in high school I always hated the process of getting back into classes. I lived a long way from class and weather was often frightful not to mention we had no car. It was just embarrassing being made to feel like a delinquent.
ReplyDeleteKids detested the late detention more than anything.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI do not remember being late for school, maybe once or twice. I had to take a note why i was late. So I did not get many changes to be "talked too about lateness". Take care, enjoy your day!
A very high percentage of kids were never late. Some like you had a good reason to come late and that was okay.
DeleteHa! Needless to say, I never call anyone "honey" at our school. It would sound pretty creepy coming from me.
ReplyDeleteSo honey doesn't always work. I think few people use the term but this lady did .
DeleteIt's a nice endearment. I like being called "honey" and it just doesn't happen often enough. Your story made me smile.
ReplyDeleteWe rarely hear it here but I think you hear it in some of the southern states.
DeleteI was never late for school because the school bus always got us there on time! I'd like to think that that kid who was late felt some comfort being called "honey." It was a kind gesture.
ReplyDeleteWell, our old country bus was not that reliable. We were sometimes stuck in a snowbank or mud hole.
DeleteIt seems that she was, as my mother used to say, killing him with kindness.
ReplyDeleteThey make or break a school!
ReplyDeleteMy late father's teacher would greet each late kid, 5 min. late or there just in the last 5 minutes, with "just in time!"
Some people had a knack of turning things into the positive...much more bang for the buck!
DeleteA nice way to treat a young kid then but I don't think that would be something to see in school these days which is unfortunate. It could be more confrontational.
ReplyDeleteSadly you're right. So I guess we'll have to get with the times and use current expressions.
DeleteThat would be funny if her calling him "honey" kept him from being late again! Kind of like killing them with kindness I guess!
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with "killing kindness".
DeleteSounds like she was quite something.
ReplyDeleteShe was a pleasant well liked lady. She would lend kids money! she got most of it back.
DeleteSome folks have a good way with the general public; it's just their natural personality. I, too, wonder if that boy was ever late after the honey treatment, though :)
ReplyDeleteShe was a natural for dealing with the public. I don't know what the success of this incident was.
DeleteI’ve known some great front desk staff in schools, the unsung heroes in many ways.
ReplyDeleteUnsung but some of new their full worth.
DeleteAbove and beyond employee.
ReplyDeleteYou've got that one right.
ReplyDeleteWe lived so far out that we rode the school bus in. If we were late, there was a whole busload of us. No 'honey' for us. At the entrance of the school, we were told that we'd been signed in and to go directly to class. I feel as if I may have missed out!
ReplyDeleteI do recall a lady in the office who used the "honey" treatment. It seemed quite effective. However, I don't recall our Principal picking up on that. Wonder if she could have used that on the teachers? :-)
ReplyDeleteshe sounds like a real sweet lady!
ReplyDeleteSounds like quite a character. She must have been a friendly and warm lady.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like she has a nice kind touch, we need more people like that.
ReplyDeleteI was always very appreciative of our school support staff. The secretary always knew everybody and everything. So did our custodians, it seems.
ReplyDelete