A year ago I bravely wrote about how I bunked the annual school sports day and spent the morning breakfasting with my FriendWithALife(FWAL). It was then that I decided that I am involved enough at the school and I REALLY don’t need to spend the whole day at a Sports Day to show I’m a good mom – I had a life after all.
I also bragged about the fact that there was “no way in hell” I would ever be a class rep again. It’s a thankless job and as a working mom, I really can’t do it effectively (not that there’s a whole lot to do but anyway……) So I am proud to announce that this year I wasn’t a class rep – I was a CLASSES REP. Yes, I was the class rep for BOTH my children’s classes. Does one get a bigger sucker than me? My FWAL would answer - "Hell, no!"
But how could I not? I mean we all know the awkward silence that follows when the teacher says “.. And now onto the last point on the agenda - class reps!” Suddenly every mommy needs to check her cell phone, bag, the moon outside, the lint on her shirt, pretty much ANYTHING. A deathly silence descends. The teacher looks pleadingly at each mommy. The mommies look pleadingly at each other. The Daddies look.. oh yes, there are no daddies there, these meetings are usually only attended by the mommies! So after 10 hours of painful silence, I crack and admit defeat - “OK OK I’ll do it, I’ll do it... stop torturing us with the silence!” And at that moment the other 17 moms (clearly all torture-proof ) look at each other, smile and mouth “sucker!”
In my defence I became the Grade 0 rep by chance – the teacher chose the kindest, nicest, most willing, prettiest mom (well that's what I tell myself anyway). My FWAL is happy to shatter this illusion by telling me straight that the teacher simply chose the biggest sucker. It's at times like this that I wonder why I'm friends with her?? But then again, we all need friends who keep things real.
But back to being a class rep. I didn’t think it would be a problem because the Grade 2 teacher announced proudly that there would be “No Mother’s Day Tea” this year.
At our school the Mother’s Day tea is a big fundraiser. Each Class (i.e. class rep) gets to organise a table – it’s a super grand themed affair. But like most things, it gets a bit competitive and each table needs to be bigger and better than the next. With about 60 tables in the running, you can just imagine the lengths some moms go to. In the end, decorating the table becomes the class's (read: class rep's) responsibility and historically decorating a table costs about the same amount as feeding a medium size family for a year and I'm not that keen on investing in "another family"! But with the tea out of the picture, the whole class rep thing seemed pretty doable and relatively inexpensive.
2 of the GORGEOUS tables at the 2010 Mother's Day Tea
I sailed through 3 terms relatively stress free terms. Apart from 1 kitchen tea, 2 birthday parties, a Grade 0 fun day and 2 cake sales, I was managing just fine. THEN I received a note that all class reps must attend a Sports Day Meeting – WTF?
As luck would have it - I mean this is ME after all, my group of moms got tasked with co-ordinating the refreshment table. And "refreshments" - I discovered - involved a whole lot more than just getting hold of (AND SELLING) a million and 1 cold-drinks. "Refreshments", I learnt included tea, coffee and hot chocolate (and all the paraphernalia that goes with that.. sugar, spoons, cups etc), it's iced tea, it's water, it's juice boxes and ice lollies that need to stay FROZEN for a good part of the day. Man, did I luck out on this one!
But this gets better. At the first meeting, I said that I could bring a table and perhaps ask one of the teachers for a camping fridge. So it looked like I was involved... but I wasn't involved INVOLVED. Any hoo... a few days later I get an email and I discover I am tasked with ... FINDING A COLD-DRINK SPONSOR/SUPPLIER AND ORGANISING DELIVERY AND COLLECTION OF THE 1 Million and 1 COLD-DRINKS. WTF??????? As I've said before, I must have been very very bad in a previous life!
But long story short - the cold-drinks got sorted (by some stroke of major luck I managed to get a huge sponsor and the whole refreshment table was organised!) So the lady who was co-ordinating our group was so impressed with me, she said I didn't have to do anything else.... I had done enough!! (Technically all I had done was send an email, but I wasn't about to protest)
However, this year, instead of being able to nip away and breakfast all morning - I had to work at the damn table. So I sent my FWAL an sms asking if she'll do a shift with me. Her response " #$%^ off". So I said "please, I have to work a shift - let's just do a shift together". her response - "Talk to the hand". So I replied I'd buy her breakfast if she worked the freaking shift with me... She finally agreed. In fact I hadn't specified what "breakfast" entailed and I had half a mind to just buy her a pancake from one of the stalls.... but I didn't!
So ja, I've learnt my lesson. I really have. I can honestly say "I will NEVA volunteer to be the class rep again". I've even enrolled in a "Silence Handling" class so that next yr when the teacher uses her special silencing skills at our meeting, I won't succumb - yes, folks next year I'll be one the moms mouthing "SUCKER"!
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