Nothing like a good scare

Last week at school, some teachers' contracts were not renewed for one reason or another, so there has been a feeling of ominous doom throughout the hallways. (We got our contracts the other day, however, so that's a good sign.)

During 6th period today, one of the assistant principals came to my classroom and told me the "main" principal needed to see me. Right now.

Let me add that our principal is BIG on not interrupting class time, so this had to be pretty important.

As I walked to the office, my heart was beating triple-time. "This is it," I thought. "They have found some reason to fire me." I immediately tried to think of what I had done that would validate my dismissal. (For the record, nothing came to mind.) Or maybe a parent had complained about me. I had no clue.

When I arrived at the principal's office, the superintendent AND the assistant superintendent were there.

I was about to wet my pants.

Fastforward to the end of the story...basically, they discovered that several employees had been overpaid or underpaid for the past five or six years. I had been overpaid by $100 a year. Apparently, the higher-up peeps had come by to apologize in person.

Really?

So for not even $10 a month, I about lost my lunch right then and there?

My theory is that it was one of those tactics where you make someone think a situation is really bad, so when you tell the person the "real" story, it's a relief, kind of like the teenager who says, "Mom and Day, I'm pregnant. No, just kidding...I failed my chemistry test today."