08.21.06
Bribes
So I was sitting in Driver’s Ed this morning (how old am I again?). About 20 minutes into class, an elderly man came in the room, begged everyone’s forgiveness, and asked to speak to the teacher. The older man asked our teacher how to get a driver’s license.
How the man got by the receptionist in the front office, I’ll never know. But our teacher very politely directed the man to the front desk, explaining that he could find out everything he needed to know.
10 minutes go by. The man walks in the room, again begging everyone’s pardon. He asks our teacher if he could speak to him for just a minute. So the teacher walks to the back of the room, stepping over the world’s fattest daschund (the old man’s dog). I hear the old man explain to our teacher that there is no way he could ever pass a test, since he was an old man. He not so subtly tried to bribe our teacher from having to take classes.
Our teacher was very polite, but the old man continued with every reason he could think of to not have to take the class. Tensions gradually rose in the room. I was kind of thinking it was tacky to try and bribe your way out of a class in front of those actually in the class, while the teacher is teaching the class.
I did kind of feel bad for the old man. I could see it had been a while since he had been in school, and I’ve heard that many men, especially from the war generation, can’t read. The tests that we take are now even on a computer - probably even more difficult for the old man.
But I do wonder if, after hours, some money won’t exchange hands and a 90 year old man walk away with a passing grade.