Wednesday, March 17, 2010

did YOU wear green today?

so today . . . is st. patrick's day, and i am all decked out in green. ok, well maybe not all decked out . . . mostly i have on brown today, but i'm wearing mojave green turquoise jewelry. that counts, doesn't it?

for me, st. patrick's day is a throwaway holiday. i'm not irish (i don't think,) i don't drink, and if i didn't work at a school, i would probably just ignore the whole thing . . .

but i do work at a school. and when you work at a school, you wear green or die. the funny thing is that since most of the children at my school are asian, they don't really get the whole wearing green thing. and they always ask me "who is st. patrick?" (which means i finally had to get on the internet and find out!) but there are always those few people--sometimes other teachers--that insist on bringing the whole thing up. so here we are.

since today is wednesday (usually a non-blogging day,) i decided to respost the blog i wrote on myspace a couple of years ago about st. patrick's day. and i am posting it early instead of my usual late night time, so that you can read it today while it is still st. patrick's day. it was originally posted on monday, march 17, 2008.

today i get to school and the first words i hear are, "so, do you want to get pinched today?" since this comes from another teacher, i think that what she is saying should make sense, but it doesn’t--i just don’t get it. i apparently give her the blank stare that says "huh?" but instead of explaining this random sentence, she just repeats it--"do you WANT to get pinched today?" i look around the room for a clue, but nothing. she finally reads my blank stare for what it is and has pity on me--"you’re not wearing green!" my first thought is "so?" but the quarter finally drops, and i realize it is st. patrick’s day. and there i am in my brown top and navy sweater (i do not mention the color of my pants because i assume you all have the sense to know i would NEVER wear green pants, unless they were olive green and i’m not sure that counts on st. patrick’s day--although i do have green shorts, but it is waaay too early in the year to let my bare legs out of tights) so to avoid the inevitable pinching (who thinks these things up anyway!) i am forced to wear a green shamrock sticker on my shirt all day long. now if i worked with ADULTS i could ignore this whole green wearing thing and just act like like "oh yeah, i guess it is st. patrick’s day, oh well, maybe i’ll wear green next year," eat a cupcake with green frosting that someone would have brought into the break room (oh, to work someplace with a break room!) and it wouldn’t be any big deal. but if you work at a school, you had better be wearing green or you will be in for a very annoying and painful day of being pinched by tiny people--no, not leprechauns--children! so i wear my green shamrock sticker (at least it is shiny!) and just smile whenever anyone shows the insensitivity to say "hey, you forgot to wear green today" and remember we all forget things sometimes. and then i set an alarm on my phone so that next year i will be wearing green right along with everyone else!

now that i have had time to think about it, i blame my lack of green clothing on the fact that st. patrick's day fell on a monday. on mondays, i'm just glad to make it to school with shoes that match--my brain is completely on autopilot.

besides, i don't like to be told what to do . . . or what to wear . . . even if it is st. patrick's day.

2 comments:

mom said...

I'm sad. I've worked on St. Patrick's Day every March 17 since I retired except for today. No job available today!! I have a bright green jacket that didn't worn today. Oh well, maybe next year...

Carroll said...

St. Patricks day doesn't mean anything to me either but being as old as I am and "celebrating" as many St. Patrick's Days as I've had to, I think it's here to stay. I told Wally it was the day to wear green and he came out in a bright yellow shirt. I said, "What?" And he said, "It's faded green." Just can't win them all!