Let’s Try Inside-The-Box Thinking This Time
CONTENT WARNING: Gross (Roaches)
When my brother was younger, he used to get strange rashes during the school year. My mom didn’t think anything of it at first, just getting salves and ointments at the drug store to treat the rashes. One day, when he was in second grade, my mom went to drop him off at his classroom only to see another little boy putting what looked like tiny brown things into a box. When the little boy went to scoot past my mom, she stopped him.
Mom: “What do you have there?”
Boy: “I’m taking out the bugs!”
Mom: “The bugs? Can I see them?”
The boy showed my mother the inside of the box, which turned out to be almost half-full of cockroaches.
Mom: “Can I have that, honey? I’ll take the bugs out for you.”
Boy: “Okay!”
The boy handed my mother the box of cockroaches, and she watched my brother add his jacket and lunch box to the growing pile caused by kids not putting their things in their cubby holes. She moved to the teacher’s desk and found that the class had a substitute she was on friendly terms with.
Mom: “I’m sorry, are these what I think they are?”
She showed the substitute, who looked into the box and nodded.
Substitute: “Yep, those are roaches. You want me to call the office right now?”
Mom: “No, I’ll show them myself.”
My mother then marched herself to the main office. The secretaries immediately asked her what was in the box only to be startled and jump away from her when she showed them the roaches. Unfortunately, the principal wasn’t in, and the vice principal was doing her rounds, but my mother said it was fine and patiently waited in a chair with a box of roaches on her lap.
The second the vice principal walked in, one of the secretaries literally jumped up to attention and announced that my mother was there to see her. The vice principal invited my mother into her office.
Vice Principal: “What did you want to speak with me about, Mrs. [Mom’s Last Name]?”
Mom set the box of cockroaches on the desk.
Mom: “Were you aware of the cockroach issues in the second-grade classrooms?
The vice principal looked into the box, and her face went pale.
Vice Principal: “Oh, my God!”
She immediately grabbed the phone and called the head custodian, who came to the office.
Vice Principal: “Were you aware we had a roach problem in the classrooms?”
Head Custodian: “Yes, ma’am, I was.”
Vice Principal: “And did you make a report of this? Is [Principal] aware of this?”
Head Custodian: “Yes, ma’am, he is.”
Vice Principal: “What’s being done about this?”
Head Custodian: *Shrugs*
The vice principal and my mother were both furious. While the vice principal tried to get a hold of exterminators, she also gave my mom the phone numbers for some people higher up in the school district so she could make more formal complaints about the school not handling the situation properly. They ended up having to fumigate the school during a school break due to the chemicals involved being harmful.
The rashes my brother was getting? Turns out he’s allergic to cockroaches.