This morning had already been quite stressful before I got the girls out the door to go to school. My husband got hit with the stomach virus around four in the morning, so I was tired, stressed, and desperately hoping I don't succumb to puking like everyone else in the family has done thus far this month. Hubby getting sick often means an emergency room visit if his blood sugars crash, so I made the executive decision to keep my son home from preschool because his schedule is the hardest to get help when it comes to picking him up from school. Anyway, I managed to get all three kidlets up, dressed, fed, and out the door while my husband rested.
We walked a couple of blocks down the street until we hit the biggest intersection between our house and school. We could see the crossing guard crossing another mother with her kidlets, and they were waiting at the opposite corner by the time we reached the intersection. The crossing guard was looking in our direction, but he never acknowledged our presence. He just stood there, staring in our direction, and never budged from the corner. Since we still had the walk signal, I crossed my kidlets myself.
When we reached the other side of the street, the crossing guard turned to me. I was expecting him to say something stupid about how he did not see us despite looking right at us. Instead, Mr. Bossypants informed me I needed to wait until he chose to cross us. Excuse me?
Mr. Bossypants: "You need to wait until I go out in the street to cross you."
Me: "I am an adult. We had the walk signal. It's not like my children are crossing the street by themselves."
Mr. Bossypants: "I am here for a reason, you know."
Me: "You were looking right at us and did not cross us despite us having the signal. I can handle crossing my kids."
Mr. Bossypants: "It's my job, and you will wait for me!"
Me: "If you don't do your job, there's no reason why I cannot cross the street, in a crosswalk, with the light in our favor and the stupid white pixellated person symbol telling us we have the right of way!"
Needless to say, I don't think either one of us thinks highly of the other right now. The other mother, after we crossed the last part of the intersection, asked me why on earth he was trying to tell me what to do. I have no idea, but I know he is the first person the mysterious "they" found for that location after the former crossing guard got hit by a car. I think I preferred the police presence. Even the police never scolded me for crossing my kidlets if I got to the intersection before he could get out of his car.
I complained to another crossing guard who has known us for five years now. She told me she would relay the information to the woman in charge to have the guy take it down a notch. Here's hoping he does, because me walking my children to school in a legal manner does not give him the right to enforce his own made-up rules because he only wants to cross one family at a time for each walk signal.
If he is this obnoxious after school today, I am going to start crossing my children across the other two sections of street at that same intersection. We can go the opposing corner route. I'm guessing he won't like that too much, but what is he going to do about it? Call the police? They already know me and know I am with my children, walking them properly, never jaywalking, and never crossing against the light. Good luck with that, Mr. Bossypants.
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