First faculty meeting of the new year got off to a promising start, with military recruiters showing us helpful websites for extra student tutoring/practice and the principal expressing appreciation for faculty members who had missed less than two days of school the first semester. The thank you came in a rather clever form of telling us he was providing a 'sub' for us. Momentary surprise (why reward attendance by allowing an absence?) gave way to laughter when he revealed the 'sub' was not a substitute but a 6" sub sandwich at the nearby Subway restaurant. All we had to do was go over for lunch one day, make our selection and let the yummy begin.
But...there's always a but. I never had enough time to go over during lunch period, and I decided I would just take advantage of this some Saturday when I came to school to work (yes, teachers work on Saturdays). Never worked out because I was usually in a hurry just to get home or go somewhere else. But today, Presidents' Day, I arrived at school at 7:30 and worked until 3:30 (yes, teachers work on holidays). I had a wonderfully-filling breakfast, albeit at 6:30 AM, so when I got ready to leave I decided, "Today's the day!" I cruised happily over to Subway, ordered a Veggie Delight and presented my coupon/card. The girl at the cash register looked at it with puzzlement and turned it over and over. "What's this?" she asked. I started to explain it was a gift from my principal when the young assistant manager stated, "We're not taking those anymore. We only took them for a little while and the principal was supposed to send out an email about this. But several teachers have come in and tried to redeem them. I'm sorry."
For some reason, this just struck me as hilarious, and I started laughing. I don't know if he thought that was a potentially dangerous sign, but he repeated, "I'm really sorry about this." And then the cashier tossed in her apologies as well. In between snorts of laughter, I said, "It's all right. It really is. It's just funny to me. But can I have a free cookie?" This was not a gluttonous request; there were signs all over about a free cookie in honor of Presidents' Day. She said, "Of course!" And the assistant manager quietly told the cashier, "Give her the combo for $5." I guess he still was a little uncertain about my mental state. So I paid for my meal, collected my freebie cookie and grabbed a drink.
The cookie was quite tasty; it had white and dark chocolate chips and even bits of dried cherry (I guess in honor of the Washington myth). As I ate, I mused over the fact that I had not received my gratis meal but I did get a free cookie. You may not always get what you want, but today I got what I needed. I think this is the Universe's way of telling me I've been a good girl. ;)
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