PTA Adventures

So, I joined the PTA. I read somewhere that the kids that do well are the ones with involved parent. Well, I'm nothing if not an involved parent! Well actually, I've always wanted to be in the PTA and I was curious what it was like. Okay, so the first meeting was a little disappointing. I was a few minutes late and wondered if I'd find a seat. I was expecting the cafeteria to be filled to the brim with parents, standing room only. Like in the movies. Not so. There were a couple of long tables with the PTA officers facing two rows of ten chairs. A little over half of the chairs were filled. After me, a couple more people came - one of them was the principal. Oh, and it was all female, which I expected.

They started talking about all the stuff they're doing. It's pretty much all fund-raising stuff. The first big activity was the Fall Festival in October. It's like a carnival. There's going to be food and games. There will be baskets that are raffled off. The baskets are to contain stuff donated by people, organizations, and businesses. They started asking for committee heads - I refrained from volunteering. Once upon a time, I did a lot of heading up of organizations and got burnt out so I decided to be a helper but not head or leader of anything. One mom volunteered to do the decorations and somebody else offered to help her. Another mom offered to do the food. Baskets are next. That sounded like A LOT of work. I just sat there. Certainly someone else would volunteer. A someone did! Hmm... I do want to help! Another person said she'd help with that. Oh good! I said, "I can help you with that too!", now that there are two other people involved and I don't have to be in charge!

So, I talked to the mom in charge of the baskets. Her name is Laurie. I saw her in the school yard, while dropping off and picking up Charlie. She assigned me to call the restaurants in town. Perfect! I can do that! It took me a while, a couple of weeks actually, to get around to calling them. My daughter got two colds and I was busy with stuff. But, finally I got the phone book out and made a list. I decided to pace myself and just call ten places a day. My first day was pretty disappointing - I got two places to donate gift certificates. After that, it seemed to get easier. I had a script and it was friendly. I didn't care if they said no as long as they weren't mean about it. Just about everyone who said no was nice about it. EXCEPT for this one place....

It was this Italian place in one of the back streets across from the mall. Dan and I had gone there once on a date. We had to wait a long time to be seated and a long time for our food. The people behind us in line had raved about the place. I didn't think my food was anything to write home about but Dan thought his was pretty good. However, he didn't think it was good enough for the wait. He said he'd never go back there. I would've given it another chance... Well, now I know that I would never set foot in that place again!!

I called this place and told the guy who answered the phone that I was a member of the Henderson PTA and that I was calling around for donations for our fall fundraiser. Did he know who I could talk with about this?

He said, "That would be Al* but he's not here right now." I asked when he'd be in and he told me.

So, at the time that he'd be in, I called Al. Al answered the phone. I gave him my schpiel.

He asked, "Linda, do I know you?"

I was puzzled. For a minute I thought he knew someone named Linda and that he was thinking I was her. So I said, "No, why?"

He said, "I don't know you and you're calling me. Why would I want to do business with you?"

All I could say was, "Okay..." and something to the effect of I was calling all the restaurants in town, blah, blah, blah.

He said, "I only do business with people I know and who help me."

Well!! I was speechless. When I found my words, I said, "Okay. That's fine! Thank you!"

When I hung up the phone, I was literally shaking and tears came to my eyes. I couldn't forget the meanness in his voice and felt utterly flabbergasted that someone could be so cutting. I mean, it wasn't like I was demanding anything. He could have just said, "No, thank you."

I told Dan about the incident. He told me that he'd heard rumors that this family who owned the restaurant were from "Jersey" and that they were tied to the mob. The business was probably just a front for their "activities." Dan said that if I'd told him I was going to contact this place, he would've told me not to bother. Hmmm! That explains a lot!!

I talked Laurie about this the next day. She told me that the owner was a convicted child molester. Yikes!! Well, I'm glad he didn't donate anything then! I don't want to do "business" with anyone like that!!

So, the moral of the story is - Being on the PTA can be quite an adventure! I'm actually excited to help out with the projects and activities of the PTA. I want to support the school and make it a good place for all the kids, especially Charlie. But, you know, I am going to be careful what I volunteer for in the future and be prepared to meet some "interesting" people!