School Registration

Way back in late April or early May, I told my principal that I would assist with registration at one of the high schools here in town. Registration can be a crazy, crazy time with 3000 students, their parents, their siblings and sometimes Grandma all coming to register their one student.  I signed up to work 2 days, Tuesday and Wednesday.  As it got closer to my appointed time, I dreaded going.  I was giving up my free time to work?  Who does things like that?  Oh, yes, I forgot I was getting comp time for working.  Then, the television newsman - which I very rarely watch - was saying that registration had changed and it was only going to be for new and incoming students to that high school.   The next day I called a friend of mine that is an AP (assistant principal) at the high school I was volunteering for and asked if they needed me.  The answer was no, they didn't think so, but to remember they were just an AP and not the Principal.  YEA!!!  I made appointments with a plumber and a small appliance guy to come an fix several problems I was having with my kitchen sink/disposal/dishwasher for the next Tuesday.  (I called a week before I was scheduled to work and the maintenance guys were super busy.  Tuesday was the first day they could get me in!!)

Anyways (lol  I know, it's not a word and I am only putting it in there since my friend and I just talked about it not being a word!!) Anyways, I get a phone call at 9:00 a.m. the Monday before I was scheduled to work on Tuesday, that I am to report to the other high school (I had been traded) to work registration!!
WHAT???  I told my story about checking in, etc and was told they would get back with me. Then at 10 a.m. I got a call from my friend and was told that I was needed to work at their school on Tuesday.  I told them the entire story about the phone call from my school, being traded, checking it out and said I would text them back.  Next phone call 2:00 p.m.  - "yes, you are to work on Tuesday at the second high school, please check your e-mail."  Who checks their work e-mail when they are on vacation?  WHO??  Not me, says the little pig!!  So, I go to my school e-mail, wade through all the junk and guess what?  I was supposed to be at a meeting at the second school that morning at 11:00 a.m.  Can't be at a meeting you didn't know about, now can you?  So, long story short - yea, now I shorten it, huh?  I go up to the second school, (tried calling twice, but no answer - typical of this school) wait for the VP to get out of a meeting (school is closing down in 5 minutes!) speak with the VP telling them about my Tuesday appointments and can I come in on Wednesday as scheduled and then on Thursday instead?  The answer is yes and can you work on Friday?  Well, I have nothing better to do and it seems like he may be shorthanded on Friday, so I say yes, but . . . I check in with MY Principal to see if it's okay - since I am working for comp time.  So - - worked three days - - get three days off later in the year to go quilting - - life is good! 

Well, maybe not so good.  This is what I looked at for three days - - three looooong 8 hour days - - -

NOTHING!!  See how empty the tables are?  This is on day two of working and I told my table partner that I was going to take a picture.  He said, "there isn't anything there".  Of course, that was the reason I was taking the picture so you could see 1) how busy we were 2) how gray my scenery was and 3) how bored I was to be taking a picture of NOTHING!!  (okay, I know there are chairs and tables and I know it's not nothing, but there aren't any people there registering their students) 

I think in the three days, 48 hours, 2880 minutes, that I worked I may have helped or spoken with about - 15 families (max)  to assist them or just to have them put their final check-off papers in the box.  (Check-off papers:  papers that tell you where all you need to check in and take care of so you can be finished with registration.  Papers that were printed before they decided to change up registration and so they decided to use them anyway.  Papers that did not have ANYTHING to do with how registration was run this year.  Papers that were going to be thrown away at the end of registration.)  When someone would ask about what to do with their paper - can't they see that the box in front of me has a copy of that paper taped to the outside and others had left their paper inside the box - now I know where the student gets it from - I would smile and tell them to just drop it in the box.  They would then ask for a pen so they could put their name on it - WHY?  I would just tell them not to worry about it and drop it in the box. 

It wasn't as bad as it could have been if I didn't have a great table partner to talk to and if I didn't have my tablet with a kindle app so I could read and when I got bored with reading - or had too many interruptions from all the workers talking (not people registering)  - I could play angry birds or any other games I had downloaded. (don't you love a run on sentence?)   Now, it's over and I only have about a week before we start 10 days of inservice.   The good news is we don't have convocation anymore!! (hated that - total waste of time and money!)