to be pissed off that school expect me to have endless time on my hands to drum up things I don't have BY TOMORROW

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

Yeah, because when DS comes home from his post-school regular playdate (BECAUSE I WORK FULLTIME) at 8.30 with a note (dated today - it wasn't even, as usual, that he had forgotten it earlier in the week) insisting that we supply the following for tomorrow:

green and red peppers (fortunately have some in the fridge, past their best by date but not rotten so they will have to do )

plastic mixing bowl (nope: only glass ones in this house)

sieve (nope: just thrown a bashed up and bent one out)

clean tea towel (in this house? Are you kidding?)

...well, all I want to do after getting up at 6am following a 3am screaming session by youngest son followed by me breaking the cot painfully with my shoulder and having to have the wriggler in bed with us the rest of the night, getting all 3 kids ready for school which typically involves much screaming and blood pressure issues, getting them to their respective places by 9, putting in a FULL day at work, cooking dinner, bathing littluns, putting to bed, sitting on my laptop finishing off some work and cracking a glass of wine finally before it all starts again, after I've fallen asleep... Yes, all I want to do is rush to the 24 hr Tesco to keep up. 'Please contact us if you have any difficulties with this'. What, using my timemachine, so I can ring you 5 hours before I got the note when you might actually have been there?

What the fuck do they think we do with our time? Rant over. I will not let him down; but am pissed off with this casual and archaic attitude.

[steviesgirl]

You've got to be super in this life, didn't you know

Haven't you heard of a magic wand?

[EdwardBitMe]

Are you sure this note is a first request for these items and not just a reminder?
I wouldn't dream of sending my class home with a note like that without prior warning!

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

We did know they were going to be needing some ingredients. We had already identified the chorizo that seems to have been in the fridge for many decades as a candidate for pizza topping.

The crockery requirement has totally blindsided me though.

I know normal mothers would have an endless supply of large plastic mixing bowls but I fear I may have to commandeer a washing up bowl or summat.

[Tortington]

THINGS LIKE THIS made me mad - i usually wrote in a letter.

[bumpybecky]

YANBU

if it were me I'd improvise....

red and green peppers, got those so no problem (I'd have been tempted to send any other random fruit and veg that happened to be the right colours otherwise!)

plastic mixing bowl - do you have a bucket? waste paper bin?!

sieve - carrier bags with holes in

clean tea towel - few bits of kitchen roll, or an old bath towel!

if they're going to ask with such little notice then they'll have to put up with some creative substitutions......

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

rofl at becky...

I am very tempted.

DS would be humiliated though - and that is the crux of the issue isn't it...?

[DisturbinglySexuallyInactive]

we have loads of large plastic mixing bowls if you are anywhere near suffolk

in the garden

(they have dirt, stones sticks and rotting cucumber in them, for the slugs)

[LastTrainToNowhere]

Maybe the school assumed (wrongly) that these are items that would be easily available in the house. The only things that I wouldn't be able to pull out of my cupboard would be the peppers. Having said that, if you HAVE to go to 24-hour Tesco for one thing, you might as well buy all four!

YANBU in general though. I hate the way they assume we can whip up costumes for World Book Day/ Red Nose Day/ Other Obscure Dress-up Day in short notice. I must have forgotten to collect the magic wand that comes free with every baby

[DisturbinglySexuallyInactive]

yes but if you don't have a nanny or a husband or a friendly neighbour or an older teen you have to take the children with you to the 24hr tesco, which is at least half an hour away

schools can be very good at making you feel shit about having to pay the mortgage sometimes

[GrimmaTheNome]

YANBU
That is totally and utterly unreasonable.

Methinks teacher forgot to do the note 2 days ago.

[DisturbinglySexuallyInactive]

it must be awful for people who buy the bare minimum and simply don't have the extra £££ or pence for this sort of thing too

I don't know why I am sharing your annoyance so eagerly when even if given plenty of notice I still manage to forget until the last minute

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

Oh indeed. I definitely cannot claim any moral high ground on this one, frequently having to grovel to the teachers and the scary school secretary.

But it doesn't help does it? And she does have form this teacher, who I otherwise utterly adore and worship, for forgetting crucial information until the very last minute.

I raised the issue of that Text/email system with the secretary the other day. She looked askance and pointed out that some people don't have access.

Wot, all those mobileless AND emailless mothers these days?

[JoesMummy09]

YANBU.

I think a snotty note to teacher is required here. Completely thoughtless behaviour and they need to know it.

Slightly OT, one of my friends got a note on a Tuesday saying the kids school would be shut on the Friday for some religious festival. 3 days notice! She was in a complete panic about getting the time off work. So unfair.

[JoesMummy09]

Sorry didn't post quick enough before post about teacher. Perhaps not a snotty letter... but I'd prob speak to the teacher, esp if she has form.

I'm asuming she doesn't have kids...

[chipmonkey]

Oh God Yes!

"Make a musical instrument by tomorrow morning please"
Now craft is not my strong point but I did dig out a big craft book and made a musical instrument with two paper plates and some dried beans which I thought made a very good tambourine at short notice.

But ds1's teacher apparently looked disdainful and said
"What's that supposed to be?"

[golgi]

I had a letter home from nursery yesterday asking for boy to have "plain black t-shirt and trousers" by next Wednesday. Admittedly this gives me a week, but we are going away this weekend. Will have to spend some of our weekend away looking for small black t-shirts.
I realise this is only the beginning - he starts school next year.

[HecatesTwopenceworth]

Yes, I have to go out and buy cakes today, to give to the school so they can sell them.

It's going to cost me a fiver, they'll sell it for a quid. I wish I could just give them the fiver (or even £2.50!) and be done with it.

It's a total pain in the arse. The only winners here are the bloody supermarkets!

[Longtalljosie]

I think the only thing you can do is send what you have - with a note attached saying you don't have a plastic bowl (you only have glass), but with a little more notice you could have got hold of one. That's not snotty, that's honest, and perhaps she'll think on

[kslatts]

YANBU - we always get plenty of notice if the dd's need to take things into school.

We have to take cakes in tomorrow for the school fete on Saturday, even though a reminder has been on the newsletter for the last 2 weeks I still forgot to buy extra eggs and icing sugar when I did the shopping so now need to make a trip to Tesco's after work, the school actually stated that they want homemade cakes.

[BonsoirAnna]

Totally with the OP.

DD's teacher sent home a note one Friday asking for a 15 cm x 15 cm cotton rice-filled square for "motor skills development" - for Monday. I don't have a sewing machine and none of the mothers I know have one.

Why couldn't that have been on the list of equipment the children needed for the beginning of the year?

[brimfull]

ds needs to dress up as a fucking bird tomorrow !!

to be fait I have had ample warning but I am secretly hoping a bird costume will miraculously appear tonight when I get home from work at 9:30

what are the chances??