Oops, my bad!

Why is it that you can be going about your day without any fanfare and then something negative has to come along just kill your whole mood. Today wasn't particularly good or bad, just your typical workday. That is, until I made the mistake of using the copy machine when school let out. This is the prime time for parents to seek you out with questions. A couple of my fellow teachers have learned to hide during this time of day due to the overabundance of helicopter parents. I haven't figured out where they go exactly, but I admire their dedication to this avoidance technique...but I digress. I will also preface the rest of this blog with the following disclaimer: Just because I teach English, does not mean this blog will be perfect or without the occasional typo.

So anyway, I was going about work when the mother of one of my first graders cornered me. She is generally pleasant, but does have a penchant for being very opinionated when the mood strikes her. Anyhow, she tells me her daughter said "oops, my bad." She questions her daughter where she heard such a thing and she says "in school from my English teacher." Not thinking anything of it, I respond with "oh yeah sorry about that, sometimes I say that when I make a mistake." She says something to this, which I forget. Again, I am still missing something here and am thinking we have a positive rapport going. I reply with "well it's slang and I guess I'm a product of the nineties culture because of the movie Clueless." She looks at me incredulously and asks "is that proper English?" I am finally sensing the subtle negative tone and tell her that it has become a part of our vernacular and is just something that is said from time to time. She says "well, we don't say that in our home." I don't remember what I say to this exactly, but I just said something to the effect of "alright I understand..." As she at long last leaves, I am standing there, mouth agape.

The sheer aburdity of this entire conversation just floors me. I passed along this little exchange with my coworkers who've come out of hiding and are dumbfounded. They couldn't believe the audacity of anyone to be so nitpicky. I mean I would understand it if I had a habit of saying something truly inappropriate, "oops my bad!" Come on people! This borders on the ridiculous. I mean if I was going around saying "Wazzzz up!" or "I screwed up" would even make sense. I am a parent and get the need to be a concerned and involved in my childrens' school experience. I don't necessarily like everything they or my childcare provider does. However, I think this one was over the top. Maybe I'm just too passive by nature, but I couldn't imagine going up to my child's teacher and do something like that. It just wouldn't even enter my mind. Who'd have thought Alicia Silverstone could stir up so much controversy all these years later with her cute little movie.