::A Geek in Korea::

My Canadian coworker has gotten himself in a bit of a pickle. Ever since he returned from Canada, he has been giving out candy to younger students before their classes start to earn their favor. This has, of course, blown up in his face, as the students walk into the room, demand candy, then call him a cheap man if he doesn’t have anything to give them. I get left alone as a surly curmudgeon that hates candy, gum, and all things sweet most of the time. Lucky me.

My coworker went out and bought a large box of sugar free candy to give out to the children. This is really nice of him, but he was swarmed with his usual mob of students looking for sweets. When he started handing them out, he was giving out one per child. Soon they were asking for an extra treat for their brother or sister. Children are very considerate about sharing. They actually do give things to their siblings. After some consideration, he had to turn them down because he didn’t have enough for everyone and their families.

The students moved on to the next person, a Korean teacher nearby. She said she didn’t have any candy to give them. Some of the students then came to me. I don’t have any candy in my desk, so I pulled out a box of paper clips. “Would you like a delicious paper clip? It’s not candy, but it’s the only thing I have.”

Several of my students took the paper clips and mockingly commented about how delicious it looked. One girl went the extra mile and started chewing on the paper clip. Just thinking about it made my skin crawl. Who chews on metal? I told her I was joking, and that she should absolutely take the paper clip out of her mouth right away. The last thing I wanted was for a student to choke on a paper clip I gave them. I took it back and put it in my desk.

Predictably, the students called me a cheap person for taking away her paper clip then walked out of the office. Next time should I just let them choke?

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Tags: paperclip, esl, joke, mock, candy, coworker, esl