Jessica always tells me (Nate) not to be so particular with using proper names (first and last). She always uses pronouns and then I am supposed to figure out who she is talking about through the context. Well, I still believe using Proper Names in a conversation is a good idea--Please let me explain!
So, today, Bryan's mom walked in for Parent-Teacher conferences. I was thinking to myself, "Great, I get talk to Bryan's mom about Bryan wanting to switch over to Band and start playing the trombone!".
So, we started discussing about "him" switching over to band. I told his mom how I had called the family on Tuesday to discuss putting "him" on the trombone, but the parents were out of the house, so I was able to talk to their son about it. The mom then said, "Yes, I guess I was out of the house on Tuesday. But, "he's" not mentioned anything to me about playing in band, and he told me earlier in the school year that he definitely did not want to play an instrument".
I responded by saying, "Well, the last few days, he has expressed a lot of interest in playing the trombone, so perhaps he has changed his mind".
We then went into a long discourse about whether "he" would really enjoy playing an instrument in band class. The mom also mentioned how she didn't think her family could afford renting an instrument; so we discussed the different options we had
for "him" to be in band.
After a long while, the mom mentioned, "Well, I'll talk to THOMAS about this and see what he says". THOMAS! O no! This is THOMAS' mom, NOT Bryan's mom! I thought, "What am I going to do? Should I just move on with other topics? Should I try to get another trombone for Thomas?! Or should I tell her that I messed up and thought I was talking to another Mom?!"
So after 30 seconds of thinking over this dilemma, I fessed up to it: "I'm so sorry, you're Thomas' mom, aren't you?"
"Yes, of course I'm Thomas' mom", was the reply.
"I'm so sorry", I said, "I thought you were Bryan's mom, and Bryan was the one I talked to about the trombone; he's the one excited about playing an instrument!"
"Oh! Well, let's scratch that long 20-minute conversation!"
"So, anyway, Thomas, uh, yes, Thomas", I said, "Thomas is doing a great job in General Music class!"
Lesson learned: Make sure you know which parent you are talking to in parent-teacher conferences!!!
4 comments:
This same thing happened to me at p-t conferences, except the conversation only lasted a few minutes before we figured out that their high school son was not the same person as the middle schooler I was talking about.
In my defense, the boys have ths same first name and their last names start with the same letter... but I still felt like a total idiot. Luckily, the parents were very understanding.
Whew! We're glad you can relate! It is true you had that first name thing going for you. We're glad the parents were understanding here too! Thanks for sharing your story!
Fillet of sole (shoe to be exact)
One of my favorite dishes. My favorite is when you meet a person and sort of remember their name. Then later that night you're trying to get their attention and aren't sure whether they can't hear you or you have the name wrong.
Yes, Sam! We know the feeling!
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