Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Reluctant Participant

The #1 son and I are playing trivia tonight. I can't work up much enthusiasm for the event. I agreed to play several weeks ago. On Thursday, #1 informed me that one of his cronies would also be on the team. Hear that screeching phonograph needle?

I do not wish to spend my Saturday night with students. Not now. Not ever. If it's not my own kid or a faculty kid, I'm fresh out of congeniality. Do surgeons want to carve the meat when invited to dinner? Do pit crew members rush out to the driveway to change your tires when you come over for poker? Do actors round up a rousing game of charades at a cocktail party? Do gynecologists... never mind. The point is, I do not wish to mix business with pleasure.

My son is rarely on our team. If so, it is at the urging of the person who rounds up the team. He usually has his own team of students at our Newmentia trivia contests. This one is a different trivia. The ringleader asked me to play, and also #1. Now the ringleader has gone and invited the crony. Unfortunately, he has engaged in this behavior in the past--inviting people with whom I have no desire to socialize after he's snared me for the team. Then I'm the bad guy when I tell him I'll take a rain check on that invite. Life is too short to begrudge four hours of your life to a miserable evening.

I will need to make it clear that in the future, I am not available for student socializing. Off with my head! I do not play well with others that are my work. It's too constraining. I have to censor myself from being myself.

It's a full-time job.

4 comments:

Chickadee said...

I hear ya and don't blame ya. You're essentially at work and not getting paid when you have to socialize with students.
When I did my internship at the zoo and then worked for a bird doctor, I was sure to get out of my uniform if I had to go someplace after work, like the grocery store because people stopped me to ask me a question or tell me some dumb story. I did that all day thank you. Don't want to do it some more on my own free time.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Chick,
I have to mind my Ps and Qs, being such a small-town celebrity. That was another trivia question. Ps and Qs means pints and quarts, as in, "Don't make a fool of yourself when drunk."

Mommy Needs a Xanax said...

I suck at trivia, but I know the answer to whether anyone would want to hang out with students on a Saturday night.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Mommy Ann,
I'm guessing your answer might be a NO, preceded by one of those F words.