You see, directly to the left of the building which my son comes out of is the bus pull-in area. It has large, rectangular blocks painted on it – all of which have the dimensions of a bus. Imagine that. I’m fairly sure that means that the buses are supposed to park there. Months of research, conducted when picking my son up, has shown me that I’m onto something here: the buses always pull in to this area to pick up the bus riders.

This is a problem, however, because parents who pick up their kids want to park there. Now, I know what you’re thinking: but the buses have to park there! If there are vehicles parked there, how are they supposed to do so? I’m in agreement with you here, but apparently, the bulk of my fellow parents are not. Every day, there are at least 5 or 6 cars parked on the bus lot, perpendicular to the painted rectangles. Almost every day, a teacher or school administrator comes out and tells the cluster of parents: “If you’re parked there, you’re going to have to move. The buses need in there.”

What follows is… I’m not really sure. A communal act of idiocy? Rather than seeing the logic behind what the person in charge is saying – hi, that area is for the buses only, as they are large and cannot park elsewhere, whereas you can park along the street right next to the school – they instead began ranting and raving. “Well, I can’t believe this.” “I have to move my car? But I’m here to pick my kid up!” “They can’t wait 10 minutes?” “Wow, I don’t know what her problem is.”

I just don’t understand the sense of entitlement on display here. I’m a parent. I have to pick my kid up. And you know what? I park along the street, as do the vast majority of the parents. Sure, I might have to walk a block or so, but I don’t exactly see that as unreasonable. There’s plenty of parking available, these people just don’t want to bother with walking a little bit.

It could be worse, I suppose; all of the people who park in the bus lot could just stop in the middle of the street. Last week some lady parked in the middle of the street for 10 minutes, waiting for her kid to come out, and then got angry when a bus pulled up behind her and the driver honked at her.

Ah, humanity. Sometimes you baffle me.

Girl 1: So, did you finish your response for ethics?
Girl 2: Yeah, finally. It was such a pain in the ass.
Girl 1: Yeah, I know. I don’t get why the professor wanted it typed.
Girl 2: I know. I didn’t type mine up, though. I had my mom do it.

… She had her mom do it. The girl is in her twenties, in college, and her mother is typing her work for her.

I must admit – I briefly considered tackling her, but then thought that such an act would probably be taken badly by the campus administration, particularly the security branch thereof.

Then again, I don’t know why I was surprised. These are the same girls who never take notes, instead opting to text in class, and then act shocked when they get Cs and Ds on their exams. Oh really? I never would have imagined such a thing would happen.

Me? Bitter? No, not at all.

Girl 1: Yeah, I was watching Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? a while ago, and I saw the one where they were asking the person about pronouns. I thought that was so crappy of them.

Girl 2: Yeah, I know! I mean, I don’t even know what a pronoun is.

Girl 1: Oh, I do. A pronoun is just like a noun, really, the whole person, place, or thing. The “pro” in “pronoun” is an abbreviation for proper. I thought it was sneaky how they were trying to trick the person with that.

Girl 2: Yeah, that’s pretty low…

It was at that point that I leapt into the fray and informed them that no, a pronoun is not “just like a noun”, and that the “pro” in pronoun does not stand for proper.

I’m still amazed. Coming from the mouth of a university student!

I’m probably being unfair, though. Being a language geek, I know what it is. I’m sure I’d be idiotic in other areas… I know for a fact that my geography skills are horrible, including for my own country.