I'm expecting a student to show up on my doorstep any day now.Ever since I've started teaching, I've become paranoid about seeing students outside of class. Not that it's such a terrible thing, but I always feel like I have to stop and think before I leave the house in my yoga pants and ratty old sweatshirt. What are the chances I'll run into a student? I wonder. I'm pretty young, for a professor, and so appearing professional and, I don't know, suitably academic? concerns me.
But even worse that the fear of running into students in public is the fact that it's very likely, at some point, one of them will deliver a pizza to my house. Last semester a student told me that he delivered pizza, and that's when it first occurred to me. Every time we ordered pizza, I cowered out of sight just in case. And now this semester, a student was wearing a pizza hat and I asked him if he worked there. He said that he is, indeed, a delivery driver for this pizza chain. And he works at my local restaurant.
I might as well just accept that it's going to happen eventually. But it's very disconcerting to imagine a student seeing my house, my unweeded garden, my living room strewn with toys. Especially if it's a night that we've resorted to ordering in pizza, that means it's even more likely that the house is a complete mess. And I'm a complete mess.
The only bright side is that, I think we can all agree, Keith needs to answer the door for the pizza deliveries from now on.
2 comments:
You could start every semester with an anecdote about your twin sister and if you are ever acknowledged in public you could say "Oh you must have me confused with my sister Megan, my name is ...I'll let her know we bumped into each other.
It sounds elaborate at first, but I don't seem any other rational options.
Clearly, you have hit upon the most rational option. I'm lucky to have such a clear-minded brother-in-law!
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