Faux Pas

Email is a delightful thing to me.  It avoids the need for personal contact, and allows me the ability to carefully compose my thoughts before presenting them to someone.  Because I tend to say whatever disorganized things come to mind, and then I get flustered.  Yes, I'm easily flustered.  So I love email.

But I hate HATE HATE the "reply all" function.  Yes, it can be useful.  Once in a blue moon.  Or more likely, NEVER.

Case in point: my son's 2nd grade teacher is a kind, sweet, quiet young lady (meaning she's probably my age) who has a tough, tough job.  She has to spend 5 days a week wrestling a classroom of 20+ 7- and 8-year-olds into submission whilst attempting to teach them something so their parents (who should be spending more time teaching their kids themselves) don't get pissy and so she doesn't lose her underpaid, overworked, and all-around unenviable job. 

So when she sends an email to her second grade class that goes like this:
Dear Parents,


We have earned our 100 marble celebration and we are having a “Moon Party!” The students can bring a pillow, stuffed animal and a flashlight only! Please DO NOT send them in pajamas and do NOT send blankets
Thank you so much!

I don't think too much of it other than "well, that's one more thing for me to remember in the morning."  My kid gets excited because he gets a break from the endless rounds of teaching-to-the-test (disclaimer: she is a very creative teacher at a very good school and he loves it).  The teacher gets a much-needed break where she just has to chivvy kids into behaving, as opposed to doing that while teaching them how to read. The event is curriculum-pertinent (their entire school is learning about the solar system).  And I'm all about appropriate rewards for hardwork.  Meaning I love my days at work where I do nothing but study and chat with my fellow residents.

So when some untypeable-expletive of a parent REPLIES TO ALL with this:

"Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource - the minds of our children. "-Walt Disney


I got a little...irritated.

Hence my blog.  I really wanted to reply to all with some choice swear words about people who reply to all.  But that's just being facetious.

I felt really bad for his teacher, though.  People are rude.  If I had been that teacher, I probably would have cried.

Ok, let's be honest, I would have done exactly what I did - read: nothing - and turned the air blue with irritated comments and screeches.  And then replied to all.  Because that particular email function happens to be a tragic waste of my greatest resource.

My freaking time.