Night and Day

I worked the late shift last night, which tends to be less stressful: not so many angry people, or maybe that's my imagination. I did handle a phone call that had me wondering: a mother called from her workplace: she was supposed to pick up her son but was running late. Was he there? Me: puzzled silence. She asks again: is her son there? She hadn't even attempted to provide a name or description at this point and seemed to think what she had said....I began to explain: "I'm very sorry, but we can't track down children for you. If you tell me his name and he comes up to check out materials and comes to my terminal, I'll tell him you called." She persists: he's supposed to be there using the computer but he's grounded and isn't supposed to be using the computer to play games; can't I just check for her? Hmmm. Gee. In a word: no. She, at least, was amenable throughout the conversation: usually the is-my-kid-there call ends with a phone slammed in ones ear, a la the time- also a Tuesday night!- when an irate mother called: her son had taken the family car (with permission) and she needed it back immediately. She wanted me to find her son and tell him to go home. Well, the place was awash in kids that night; I could no more have picked this child out of the crowd...even after she'd supplied a description, which went like this: I heard her ask her husband or whoever, "What was ______ wearing when he left? Did he have his black jacket on?" Irate male voice: "HOW THE !@## WOULD I KNOW?? KID LOOKS LIKE A !@##$%^&* RETARD EVERY TIME HE LEAVES THIS HOUSE!!!!!!" Well, that describes an awful lot of kids, including my own....

Speaking of: Isaiah was downright chatty when I got home last night. He missed two days of school not long ago (boy's had strep three times this winter) and has had to work like a beaver to catch up. I wouldn't be that age again. No way. I was immediately suspicious (kid has hardly spoken to me in so long that any time he antes up a few consecutive words I brace myself) but...but....maybe.....I shouldn't get my hopes up, but MAYBE he's coming out the other side of this teenager thing.