Just when I thought I couldn't possibly...

...find something else to be annoyed about.

Disclaimer: YES, I know I am a teacher. YES, I know my daughter is being homeschooled this year (not by me, though), and yes, I know I love kids. This is all beside the point, so be forewarned. Hypocritical blog post ahead.

Flu season is in full swing in Southern California. My middle daughter missed 3 days in a row of her life due to sickness. I actually had 2 cancellations yesterday and 3 today due to sick students. I was able to get some paperwork done at work since they were absent and I found myself done at the school very early. It was a beautiful day...probably 78 degrees and sunny. I decided that for once I would take an hour and have lunch out somewhere. I went to the Great Harvest Bread Company, ordered a sandwich, grabbed a diet coke and sat outside waiting for my order while I watched puppies on my phone (that is another story for another time). My food came and I was as content as I could be sitting in the shade, puppies on the phone and food in front of me.

Next thing I know, up the sidewalk comes about 4 moms and about 10 kids of various ages around 6-11. They stood extremely close to my table and were very loud. The boys were climbing the lamppost 2 feet away from me and OF COURSE!! the moms were clueless. I could feel my blood pressure start to rise. This was supposed to be my "alone~out~lunch on a beautiful day because I never get to do this lunch". (yeah, I know that was bad grammar; I am off the clock) I put my headphones in to listen to puppies bark hoping that would distract me from being upset. Nope. Next came about 5 more moms and 15 more kids. More moms gabbing means no one watches their kids. I'm in this mob of kids and moms and the kids are running around screaming and climbing and getting in my space. My brain says, "these must be homeschoolers". DISCLAIMER #2 I KNOW I work for an independent study/homeschool charter public school and should not be thinking like this.
I was bothered, though, because the moms were not conscious about what their kids were doing. I have higher expectations for homeschooling moms than I would for a lone teacher and 30 kids on a field trip. It was ridiculous. I tried hard to ignore them and hoped they were not from my school.

When I was almost done with my food, the lady from the store came out and asked the kids and moms to wash their hands and not to touch things unless she says so...
Good luck with that.