There went both my Saturday and a nice little chunk of $$ spent renewing my B&N membership. After such an inauspicious start, I decided to grab dinner at Panera's and read one of the books I bought.
So I'm sitting there, listening to my iPod, when these two boys - about nine and twelve - come and sit down at my table. I give them the Look that says go away, because there are plenty of free tables and it's not like they're eating or even waiting for food. Then the older boy asks me what I'm listening to and I'm too polite not to answer him. "Linkin Park."
"Really??? What songs?"
I list a few, which sets him off and he tells me all the bands I should listen to instead: "Metallica is better."
Note: while this is going on, the baby brother keeps asking him questions like, "What's Linkin Park" ("a band, stupid") and "Whatcha eating?" ("a bread bowl - that has soup in it").
Then I get, "How old are you? Like 18?"
"Try 28."
"Really? Can you drive?"
"Yes."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a university professor." Only a slight exaggeration - I'm going to teach in the spring.
A conversation then ensues in which I'm informed how cool it is to be a "hot" teacher. Now, I've had high school boys tell me this, too. No college students have yet gotten up the nerve to say it to my face, but I'm pretty sure some of them have thought it. To all the guys of the world: this is not what a young, female teacher wants to hear. And if you have a teacher like one my dear friends, ceaseless mocking will ensue until you're pretty sure your teacher is an actual Authority Figure.
Then we get around to: "Do you make a lot of money? Like more than if you worked at a restaurant? What kind of car do you drive?"
At this point I start answering with shrugs to kill the conversation and make them go away. Hello - is this 20 questions? Are you planning on mugging me? If so, you're going to be sorely disappointed.
Or maybe not. My iPod does have Linkin Park on it.
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