On Saturday, we celebrated my FIL's 60th birthday, which was lovely. He grilled out, and we brought my favorite broccoli salad (emphasize bought, not made...sigh) and all of my SILs made several tasty yet unhealthy Indiana special treats. You know...broccoli casserole covered in cheese and fried onions, etc. The usual.
On Sunday, I dragged Matt to see a matinee of Harry Potter. I am kind of a die-hard, yet silent, fan...I've read all the books and I really think they are fantastic. I have always enjoyed the movies, and I feel like I have to see them in the theaters because of the special effects. So, we went. I did enjoy it (and poor Matt had no idea what was going on or who anyone was, but he appeared to stay awake), but thought that it lacked some of the excitement of some of the other movies. Thoughts? Comments? Please note that I haven't read the book for several years so I really don't remember if the book was relatively uneventful, too.
Anyway! Today it was back to work, and I started seeing students again. Naturally, most of them were skipping (I mean, for real? This was the fourth day of school!) so I only saw two this afternoon. Becky, my counterpart at the other high school, also managed to see a couple of kids this afternoon and called the second the bell rang to tell me some fun stories.
Stories = what us social workers live for. There are always stories. And they are ridiculous. And this is why I love my job!
Story Number One:
Two girls came into Becky's office this afternoon and looked really...uncomfortable and worried. One of them, we'll call her Girl A, told Becky that the other, Girl B, had to go to the emergency room. Concerned (and wondering why they were in her office), Becky asked what was wrong. Girl A replied that Girl B was experiencing some "sharp, stabbing pain...down there." Girl A then proceeded to explain that Girl B who is standing right there is "really clean, and has only had like one boyfriend."
Still unsure of why they had come to her office, Becky suggested they all go to the nurse's office. After some careful questioning by the male nurse (Without getting too graphic, can you tell me if the pain is...external or internal?), it was discovered that she had some sort of...internal boil. It apparently hurt so badly that the poor girl couldn't sit down.
At that point, Becky excused herself and returned to her office.
Gross.
Story Number Two:
Becky also saw a female student today who was talking about how she just met her dad and her grandfather for the first time this summer. How did they reconnect?
Facebook. Apparently, Dad and Granddad were talking about how much they'd like to, you know, find her. One of Granddad's friends told him that all the teenage girls these days are on Facebook, so Granddad went on Facebook and did a search.
Ta da! Long lost daughter/granddaughter.
Um. Awesome.
To all you teachers/counselors/youth service workers...what are your best stories from your experiences with kids? I have so many more stories...wow. Too many stories. But I love hearing stories like this, and Becky and I are constantly swapping tales from our days as foster care social workers. So - whaddaya got?
15 comments:
Wow, those are some stories. The first one had me cringing the whole time. Yikes! Glad you had a good weekend though!
Hm, my best story is about the paranoid schizophrenic punishing himself by putting cut television cable wires up his urethra. Yeahhhh.
Broccoli salad, could I please get the recipe? It sounds like something befitting of our birthday trip to the PA this weekend to see the family.
And the latest Harry Potter, bleh. I don't read the books but have enjoyed the movies! The latest movie felt like a dragged on cliffhanger and I had NO idea what was going on and left feeling wholly unsatisfied at the end, much unlike ALL of the previous HP movies. Just my two cents!
PS.: I love hearing your MSW stories!!
Story one = ick. Story two = totally awesome. Ha, love it. I LOVE broccoli salad as well & would love to see your recipe. And finally - I was extremely disappointed with the newest Harry Pizzle movie, I'm a big fan of the books & it just wasn't right, boo!
Story from today:
Phone call from student's parent. The parent just told the 7 year old student that she is adopted. Here's the mother's description of part of that conversation:
child: "Do you know what my birthmother's name is?"
adoptive mother: "Yes. Her name is Barbie*."
child: "Do you know what she looks like?"
adoptive mother: "Well, I don't have a picture of her. But, maybe we can look her up on Facebook sometime."
Because the adoptive mother knows the birthmother's full name, she looks her up on Facebook. And, wouldn't you know it, the birthmother is on Facebook. So, the adoptive mother tells me that she told her child:
"Sorry, honey, she wasn't on Facebook. But maybe she will be some day."
*Surely you understand that Barbie is not this person's real name. HIPPA Hello!
You know, just when I think I've heard them all...I was rolling laughing with the stabbing pain down there girl! Oh, are jobs are nothing if not exciting!
These are the first two that come to mind:
At the elementary school I had a sib set whose mom was a prostitute. But she wouldn't let her kids observe Halloween. Instead, she would dress them up as the Ten Commandments and the Burning Bush and send them to church "alternative" parties.
At the high school (where most of my stories come from, because they're not as sad) I had a 15 year-old girl tell me she had recently begun having sex with her boyfriend. I asked if they were using birth control and she gasped, "F*** no! I'm Catholic! Birth control is a sin!"
I haven't read the HP books but I LOVE the movies. Hubs takes me to see them every time a new one comes out. Since I don't have the books to compare them to (and I'm a sucker for English accents and flying), I always love them :-)
Wow, those are some intersting stories and to think that it was only the 4th day of school. Interesting...
I am seriously EXCITED to hear your stories this year. Remember them all. I am so jealous of you (this is the part I miss the most).
Trust me I have many stories and will think up my best one and get back to you.
I LOVED the last Harry Potter movie! I thought it was the best one yet by far. I was surprised to read so many comments of people who didn't like it, but then again I have never read the books so I have nothing to compare it too but I just love the movies!
Wow those stories are crazy! I would have to say our most interesting stories at BBBS are some of the parent/child interviews we've done. I can't think of any of mine off the top of my head, but I remember a co-worker telling me she had a parent literally pass out for a minute in the middle of the questions cuz she was, um, high. Yeahh..nice.
Finally, a practical use for facebook ;)
Wow...I'm sure you do have the stories to tell! But I'm still aching from the boil to discuss anything further :)
On the Harry Potter note, I have only watched the movies but I felt it was lacking too. When I said this to my sister (who read the books) she was mad and said that is how the book is too. She said the next movie will be better but that the story just wasn't as action packed at this point.
On the stories, I live for those too. Totally make you day and gie you a little comic relief which all counselors/social workers/psychologists need! :)
Wow! Those are quite the stories. The HP movie was definitely lacking. I re-read the book a few weeks before I saw the movie and that was a bad choice. the movie = fail. There were WAY too many crucial points left out of the movie. I'm not sure how they are even going to do the next movie considering some of the things that were left unexplained in this one.
That's so exciting about the deferment! I would be celebrating too.
I love kid stories! They are always so funny. It's like you couldn't make them up if you tried. School starts next week, so I'm sure I'll have some for you then!
Haha, I love kid stories.
I love work stories - my mom is a school nurse so she always had great ones when I was growing up.
And I really enjoyed the latest HP but think I will love it more once the next movie comes out and I can watch them all back to back. It set the stage well (in my opinion) for the next one. I had the same thought about the book though, and once I read them all together, I enjoyed it more.
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