We are a quivering lump of collective disappointment around here today.
Becky is our second one to graduate from high school here at Northview Farm. When Liz finished her school career, we took out a funny ad in the yearbook, sending her a congratulatory message from a long list of her favorite cows. It gave us all a happy chuckle at an emotional time in her life passage.
Therefore, back in early January I composed a somewhat similar, but appropriately different, ad for Becky. Hers said something along the lines of “Emerson Drive rules, we love you Becky etc.”, as she is a great fan of that country band. I sent my check for thirty-five bucks and assumed that all was well, since the school cashed it. Beck spent six months badgering me about the text of her ad, as I kept secret what I wrote. We had a lot of fun with it.
Then yesterday the yearbooks came out.
No ad.
Nothing.
Oh, all the ads for the school board member’s kids were there. The teachers’ kids. The jocks.
But no ad for my Beck who has been waiting so eagerly for so long.
This is a one-time thing. She will never have another high school yearbook or another chance to see how proud we are of her in print in front of all her classmates, who have given her plenty of misery for being an opinionated bookworm, who has never been afraid to have an unpopular opinion or to speak out against conventional thought.
I am angry and I strongly suspect that I will have a lot of trouble even getting my money back. We went through this before with some magazine subscriptions I bought from the school, paid for, never received and never got my money back, no matter what I did.
What to do? What to do? First step is to call and complain this morning. Then what? Hmmm. I think I know what Friday’s Farm Side will be about.
And we do love you Becky, and we are very proud of your sharp mind and incisive thinking. And the 17th (when we have tickets for a real, genuine, live Emerson Drive concert) will be here before you know it.
Update: I talked to the teacher in charge. She was quite nice about it, said that they are going to improve the oversight of the program and send me back my money. We were not the only ones to end up in the same situation and I had the feeling there had been a lot of flak flying around before my call, so I took it easy on her. Too late to fix it anyhow. It is a disappointment, but I guess there are worse things.
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Thanks, Dan. I really like that idea. Silly that I didn't think of it actually.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter was yearbook editor when she was a senior. I know they were always worried about this kind of thing happening to them, but it didn't, fortunately.
ReplyDeleteConsider that if you raise hell with the school, you might be getting some kids yelled at too.
Oh my gosh, that really sucks. Tell your daughter that there are country music fans in canada wishin her congratulations...or is it congradulations...either or...way to go kiddo......
ReplyDeleteWhat I've seen from inside the society of high school is that yearbook staff (students) tend to think of the book as theirs, which can be a good thing if they are motivated in the right direction, but the dark side of that is they can do petty things and call them "mistakes".
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, big, glaring mistakes should not happen in a yearbook class where there is editorial redundancy and the final okay comes from the teacher in charge.
Definitely go to the school and make your point.
Pablo, thanks so much for stopping by. I know what you mean about the kids catching it as our oldest was an editor in her year (2004) and Beck was on staff for a while, (but changed to a different class). I was pretty gentle, especially since the teacher sounded quite defensive by the time I talked to her. Guess I wasn't the first.
ReplyDeleteMJ, Thanks, nice to see a visitor from Canada. Beck loves all things Canadian, especially the music, especially Emerson Drive.
FC, Thanks, I am glad for your insider's point of view. I was really wondering how vigorously to pursue the thing. Anyhow, I was lucky enough to get it taken care of after a few hours of phone tag in between moving heifers all day. I may take Dan's suggestion and do the ad, or I have quite a lot of editorial freedom in my column and may take care of it there.
Dear Goodness!
ReplyDeleteI not only hope they make things as right as possible with you and Becky, but follow through and institute changes needed to avoid that.
That's disgraceful!
Congratulations to Becky! Please tell her that she may have missed the ad in the yearbook, but a strange man and a slightly-less strange woman in Canada know she did good... and she obviously has great parents.
I was horrified when I read this, and actually read it out loud to my daughters, both of whom are in high school and middle school. They said this type of thing is not uncommon, which shocked me. I am so sorry for your daughter, however! Very good to hear the money will be refunded. I liked Dan's suggestion as well, and your column would be an awesome way to help make up for this glaring oversight.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to your daughter on her graduation as well. Enjoyed reading through your previous posts and browsing through your photos. :)
Hello Matthew, thanks for taking time to comment. Becky was delighted to get good wishes from folks in Canada (and everywhere of course), as she is a huge fan of everything about our neighbor to the north. (I save every single Candian coin that comes my way for her collection.) She says thanks for the good wishes.
ReplyDeleteHi Laura, thank you as well for the kind thoughts. I think the nice things that folks took time to say here meant as much to Beck as the ad would have.
Don't we fight harder when it's to do with our kids? Good on you for taking a stance ...
ReplyDeletePamela, Ain't that the truth! We might take any slight that is offered us but don't mess with our babies. Thanks for stopping.
ReplyDelete