By Any Other Name

(I’m a senior in French class with a teacher who is known to be a bit snippy with some of the students. There’s one girl in particular she has it in for. The girl’s sister went to the same school years before, but the teacher still gets her name wrong.)

Girl: *doodling*

Teacher: “[Sister], pay attention!”

Girl: “I’m [Girl], not [Sister], but sorry. What was the question?”

(The teacher calls her the wrong name several more times, each time the girl gets a little less patient. Finally…)

Girl: *to me* “I’m not responding until she gets it right now.”

Me: “Good idea. I’ll play along.”

Teacher: “[Sister], go up to the board and write the future tenses of [verb].”

(The girl stares straight ahead.)

Teacher: “[Sister], move it!”

(Again the girl doesn’t reply.)

Teacher: “[Sister]! Do you need your hearing checked?”

Girl: “Maybe, [Sister] does, but I’m [Girl].”

Teacher: “So?”

Girl: “I would appreciate it if you called me by my name and not my sister’s. It’s been seven years since you had her.”

Teacher: “Oh, whatever. It’s not like me getting your name right is all that important.”