A lot of people around us are mean. Inconsiderate. Rude. They’re all around us. Since they are like that, well, then it’s fair game that I criticize them. Right here, right now.

Anyway, the other day (it was Wednesday), I was dropped off near the school where I work. I started walking toward the building, and I saw a colleague walking away from the building toward me. She might have been on her way to grab a coffee or some food. I don’t know.

Anyway, I said “Hello,” but she just walked past me without a word. And yes, she saw me.

Now, being an instructor, I don’t work with my fellow teachers, but since we do work in the same school and we do teach some of the same students, it’s professional courtesy to greet each other. I mean, that’s a colleague, regardless of whether or not we interact during the actual work times. (We don’t, since we would be in class teaching, obviously.)

Since I have nothing to hide, I’ll just call this person by her initials, C.Z. I would guess her actions are what people call “passive aggressive”? Look, if I had unknowingly offended her in the past, then talk to me about it. But this type of treatment tells me just the type of person she is. No, she’s not shy. In between classes when I’m in my classroom prepping, I can often hear her yapping away with others. I don’t join in during those instances because I’m not one who likes to engage in gossip or meaningless chit-chat – and I’m not part of that particular clique. (So, no, she’s not shy, and nor is she a child or teenager. But perhaps her behaviour suggests that she belongs to high school still? Or kindergarten? It’s certainly high-schoolish behaviour.)

But to ignore me when I said “Hello”? That’s not even the first time. The other times were in the school, where I might have said “Hi” and C.Z. just walked past me with her head down. Or head buried in her phone. But what can I say? I’ve not knowingly done anything to her. I’ve not even interacted with this person. I mean, I don’t let such people bother me. But I won’t say nothing about it right here, on this blog, either. Of course, it would be easy to just walk up to her when there are others around and say, “Hey, by the way, you ignored me earlier….” I don’t embarrass people like that, though. At the same time, if someone’s clearly made the point to ignore me, I’m not going to go out of my way to approach that person and say, “Hey, I don’t know if we got off on the wrong foot, but I just wanted to talk to you about…”

Nothing more to say, but since I use this blog/website to discuss rude people, I will have to mention this one too. Perhaps that’s how people in her culture act. I don’t know. All I will say is… gutless. 

I have another story about an “A.J.,” from a different school where I used to work, but that’s for another time.

Here are a few highlights from last week’s classes.

It was pretty cool as I was trying to explain the “historic present” in class. Instead of giving other examples, I simply pulled out my book “The 1988 Dodgers” and gave an example from page 199…

Or, I suppose I should say:

It’s pretty cool as I’m trying to explain the “historic present” in class. Instead of giving other examples, I simply pull out…

And here’s me in another class going over paraphrasing. As long as students follow the plan, the step-by-step process, they will be fine.