So ...never one to leave a story untold...I am following up on a previous post concerning the importance of showing even the smallest amount of respect by simply pronouncing their name correctly.
I had a chance to speak with my friend, whose daughter was receiving an award in front of the school when her teacher of TWO YEARS not only failed to pronounce her name properly twice... she then arbitrarily shortened it and continued on with the ceremony.
Well the parent teacher interview that followed a few days later was when payback would be exacted.
After discussing their daughter and her performance in school (an EXCEPTIONAL student I might add) he had a simple question.
"How do you say my name?"
Instantly the teacher began to stammer and tried to explain away the mishap. At first it looked as if she was going to pull out a tried and true excuse that our children use on us parents.
“Well... I was told that is what all her friends in class called her and when I was scrambling I just went with that”
Before my friend could point out just how preposterous it is to use an excuse like this, she immediately began to apologize profusely as she turned redder and redder with embarrassment.
While he could have really raked her over the coals (and he admits he really wanted to), he took the high road, choosing only to reiterate a statement made by the school principal during the same ceremony about the importance of the names that we have and how we should respect and properly represent our names at all times.
He always has a knack for saying just the right thing.
PS. Not to justify her behaviour in this case at all, but it occurred to me why the teacher has not learned how to say this name properly after almost 2 full years. And it has everything to do with just how good a student she is. This is just a guess on my part, but you hear the saying that the squeaky wheels get the grease. Do teachers remember the students who cause trouble and are difficult more than the excellent students? Do you forget the name of the class clowns or the bullies as opposed to the straight “A” students?
Throwing that out there... let me know if you think I am off base or if I am onto something.
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