aaaaahhhhhhhhhh

Have you ever been so disgusted with the service you got somewhere that you vow and vow vocally to whoever will listen that you will never step foot in that establishment again? I can probably count the number of times this has happened to me on one hand. I am usually very easy going and likely to give rude or unhelpful people the benefit of the doubt. I am not one to lose my temper in public and it takes a lot to get me worked up enough to leave without buying what I came for.

I went to Food Lion this morning to get a few groceries. I wanted to write a check and get some cash back so I could take lunch money to Kailyn. I wandered around the store for an hour or so doing my shopping and talking on the phone and then I headed up to the front. At this point I was pretty much out of time and needed to get to the school ASAP.

A little back story I worked for Food Lion for a few years when Kailyn was a baby and I still keep in contact with a few of my former bosses- two of whom work at this particular store I was shopping at.

My groceries came to around 50 dollars and I wrote the check for 20 over. The cashier called for management approval (which isn't uncommon) and one of the managers came to the front. I recognized him as someone who has signed off on my checks before and I started a conversation with him. I asked him if Dave was working and he told me that he was on vacation that week. The manager then looks at my check and asks me if it is a new checking account. My check number was 390. I think I must have started this set with 001 or something. Anyway the manager goes on to tell me that I cannot write my check for over because the check number is under 500. I explained to him that I was a regular customer that I had written many checks for over. I even told him the names of the two managers who know me (both weren't there). He just stands there staring at me and says he is sorry but he can't take my check. I was LIVID to say the least. I tore my check up and threw it away- told the manager I would no longer be shopping there and that I was going to let Dave know what had happened. Over reaction? Probably but don't worry it gets better.
I decided that I needed to make a point to this manager so I came home and grabbed a book of checks starting with 521 (after making a slight detour at K's school to make sure she had money in her lunch account). I held the 390 check and the 521 check in front of his face and asked him to tell me the difference between the two. I was sooooo upset. He said they have different check numbers. I was like very good and that is the only difference. I kind of went off on the guy and then left. He just smiled at me the whole time saying nothing. I am sure he thinks I am a crazy wench but honestly I really wanted to punch him right in the mouth. I was really tempted to get a few things and go through the line with my 521 check just for spite.
I understand why low check numbers can present a problem- I have worked in CS for years but honestly I could open a new checkng account, order a box of checks today and have the check number start with 5555. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh

Add this to the list of reasons why

Kailyn was held back in the second grade. She is in the third grade now. Because she has been retained once she cannot be retained again in elementary school. The next time she would be "eligible" to repeat a grade would be in middle school. So here we are at the end of the school year and it is EOG time. I already have issues with standardized testing and EOGs but that would be a post by itself.

Because Kailyn has been retained she gets regular remediation. She gets pulled out for small groups and one on one time. I honestly think these things are helping and I am grateful for all the effort the school is putting in to help Kailyn succeed. But even with all this extra help Kailyn still continues to struggle academically.

I told Kailyn not to stress out about the EOG for two reasons. One I am homeschooling her next year and two she can't be held back again so her EOG score doesn't really matter. I told her to just do her best and everything would be okay. She passed the reading but failed the math. So tell me if this scenario makes any sense. Kailyn can't be held back again- she obviously is still struggling with learning- she would obviously need remediation again next year if she was going to be enrolled in public school- so she obviously should not be made to retake the EOG. Right?? The only reason to have someone like Kailyn retake the EOG after TEN hours of remediation is so they have a better score to put down on paper. So that they can say hey look we had this many kids pass the EOG. It has absolutely nothing to do with testing what Kailyn knows or doesn't know.

So in order for the school to look better the past four days- while the rest of her class has done whatever it is that kids do the last few weeks of school after the EOGs have been taken-Kailyn has had to sit in one place for five hours at a time and get math crammed into her head so that she could retake the math EOG and pass (which she did pass).

Do they honestly think that she is going to retain anything she learned in those ten hours?? If I hadn't already planned to homeschool her next year this would have put me over the edge for sure.