A Monday Down the Drain

I'm not good at arguing. Even when I'm right, eventually my emotions get the best of me, my voice gets louder and louder, and on more than one occasion tears of frustration have appeared. Today I had a phone call with the director of Sammy's preschool, a Montessori school, where she will be the first foreign student. I wanted to talk to him about a few issues, which shall hopefully be all resolved, but the one that really got me riled up was our discussion of toilet paper.

What could possibly get me so riled up about toilet paper you may ask. No, it wasn't the over-under debate as to how to mount a roll onto the toilet paper holder. Instead it all began when I made a statement (not request) on Friday while visiting Sammy's classroom before she actually started school. "There is no toilet paper in the bathroom. There needs to be." To this, her teacher replied "We have it, I will talk with maintenance about it." Let me say now, that toilet paper is a new thing here and is not commonly used. In a typical toilet stall, there will be a hose with a sprayer, very much like one that would be mounted on a kitchen sink to spray dishes. Apparently after using the toilet, spraying occurs, some shocking use of the left hand and then ...(perhaps?) dampness removal, via handkerchiefs or something non-disposable that people carry around with them.

So today, Monday morning, I took the opportunity to sneak into her classroom to check out the TP situation. None. Sigh...I spoke with her teacher again who replied that she wasn't the person who could get that done and that she had to talk to management. Huh? I truly didn't expect toilet paper to be a management decision.

Later today I called to request a meeting with the director of the school to go over a few other concerns, and obviously discuss the toilet paper situation. Rather than a face to face meeting he gave me a call since he was heading out of town. Yes, he had been informed on Friday that I required toilet paper in the bathroom stalls, and he and the staff had a half hour discussion about what to do, and came to no conclusion. (!!!) So he sent an email to the local Montessori training instructor to ask advice. He went on to explain that the school needed to take into consideration the effect it would have on all of the other students. I truly and to the bottom of my soul do not understand how on God's green earth the presence of toilet paper can have any effect on 2 & 3 year olds (or anyone for that matter), so much that the advice of a third party is needed to help evaluate the impact. I begged for explanations and clarifications on this ridiculousness, and was not impressed with the responses. (I think this was the point where my blood pressure and volume began to escalate out of control). I even pulled the money card: "You're a businessman right? And you want Westerners to send their children to your school, right? So you HAVE to have toilet paper. Period." It was at about this point where Bill started chiming in. "Just tell him if there is no toilet paper, we won't send Sammy and we'll get our money back." (Can you imagine having this conversation in the US?)

Thankfully Bill swooped in and took the phone from me before I came to full out screaming (although I was pretty close), threw his years of consulting experience at the director and hit him with both logic, reason, and softly veiled threats which was a magnificent sight to see and hear.

The outcome of all of this silliness it that this evening, the director and the staff will discuss the means for providing Sammy with toilet paper, whether it be a roll in the stall or if an aide or teacher gives it to her on the way in. Oh to be a fly on that wall....

I am curious to see what kind of looks I get tomorrow when I drop Sammy off. Maybe I should be eating something with my left hand to see who freaks out. Or maybe not. :)