AAAARRRRRGGGH I cannot STAND that woman!

I've quite possibly just gotten my daughter kicked out of school today.

They called me to say she was lethargic, had a sore throat, and had put her hand to her head and said "I just can't take anymore!" That's my daughter, budding drama queen. Anyway, at the time, I was taking my father to his doctor's appointment, and wouldn't be able to pick her up for a bit (who knows how long it would take to wait around, you know?) but that I'd be there as soon as I could and by all means please call me immediately if she gets a fever or gets worse or anything.

So after TWO HOURS with dad at the doctor, I run him home because he's positively drooping he's so tired, and speed over to school to get M. On the way out, I run into the principal, a woman I've never really liked. And not just because of the way she treats my mother-in-law. (Yes, I just had a fight with my mother-in-law's boss. And my mother-in-law is out of town watching her 4th child graduate from boot camp; I can't wait to see what happens when she comes back to town and work. *sigh*)

Anyway, the principal asks if I signed M out, and I said well, yes, in the classroom... and she said no, I need you to sign out over there (the main office) so I grumble a little but walk all the way down the sidewalk to the other end of the building and press the intercom button. I tell the nice voice on the other side my name, and that I was told to come sign my daughter M out, and the voice says to come up the stairs on the left. At that point, the door is supposed to be buzzed unlocked. I tried the door in front of me. Still locked. The door next to it? Locked. Walked over to the other two doors about 6 feet away - those locked too. At this point, I completely lost my patience and decided to leave. It was cold outside, I was sick, M was sick, I was tired - the hell with it. To my dismay, we run into the principal AGAIN as we're almost to the car, and M, the helpful little angel, says "The door was locked!! We couldn't get in!" *GROAN*

Ms. Principal and I then proceed to get into it, her saying that there's been a suspected kidnapping or something at a local middle school, and that I have to follow procedure. I tell her that I told them over the intercom, that the door didn't unlock, and that I've already signed my daughter out in her classroom. The argument continues; I inform her that I've got a bad knee, and what does she do for handicapped parents? They can't go upstairs to sign out, and there's no elevator! She says yes, it's an old building, and I say well, isn't that illegal? She says she didn't know I had a bad knee and I respond I didn't know I had to wear a sign. I told her I'd ALREADY complained about this before, and she said well, not to me! And I said no, I wasn't aware I needed to come to you; I assumed that if I complained to one of your employees that the next time that employee talked to you, she'd say "Hey, you know, I had a parent come to me today and say they had trouble making it up the stairs to sign their child out; what are we going to do for disabled parents?" (Hell, I was thinking "Nitwit, you should have thought of this yourself ANYWAY when you first instituted this policy!") At one point I actually looked up to the sky and said ARGH! She then says (with this 'tone') that I'd picked M up early somewhat frequently lately, and why was I picking her up today? I snapped at her BECAUSE THEY CALLED ME, BECAUSE SHE'S SICK. (Like it fucking matters why I'm picking up my daughter early? She's my child. Bite me. And I haven't picked her up early often lately, have I?) So she says "well, I hope she feels better soon" and turns on her heel and walks away.

This doesn't really get the whole feel of the interaction; I hate that my memory seems to fritz out when my emotions run high. Hey, THAT'S why my memory sucks - not just because I chronically was running low on sleep, but because I'm a very emotional person! Damn damn damn.

My husband, sweetheart that he is, gave me a hug when we went to visit, and told me that he's got my back. Awwww. He said "this is kind of the wrong time for you to have to argue with stupid people anyway, you know?" Oy vey, that's right - technically my period starts in 4 days (of course, it probably won't, as I'm now on the shot, but we're still figuring out exactly how the new hormone balance is working). I told J I'm betting $50 that I'm going to receive a letter from her soon that says "because of my unwillingness (or inability) to follow the safety procedures set up at the school, that she feels it would be best if my daughter attend somewhere else." Any takers?

The bad thing is that my mother-in-law is probably going to get flack over this. I was willing to go sign M out; I was willing to walk all the way down the outside of the building to the opposite end in the cold to get buzzed in; I was willing to drag myself and my two children up the stairs, even. But when the door didn't unlock, something just snapped, and I ceased to be patient or accommodating. All I wanted was to get out of the cold and go the hell home.

On the bright side, Kia just called - holy cow, they have fixed my van! Third transmission's the charm, as the guy said. Mom's on her way home and then I'm going to head over to the rental place to return the car. Woo!