I feel I need to clarify yesterday’s post for Peggy’s sake. When I say ‘Teacher Neutral’, it is the pleasant face that I try to have on at all times so no one will see the rage bubbling just underneath the surface. I am ticked off All. The. Time. I am ticked off when kids are mean, when they whine, when they break my stuff, when they mess with the Velcro on their shoes All Through The Story despite my giving them The Look several times, when other staff do things (unknowingly) that make my job much, much harder, when things go wrong, when I get sneezed on, when I have said something for the bazillionth time in my teaching career with the knowledge that I will say it one bazillion times more and that it will Never Change because these children will grow up and leave me and new sneezy breakers will come through my doors.
Pleasant Smile.
What I want to talk about is my least favorite face: my Beach Face. [Sidebar, if you aren’t reading Kris’ blog, you should. ‘Beach’ is code for a rhyming word. The rhyming word is a synonym for a mama dog. Are you with me now? Do you want me just to type it?]
When I am encountered with an idea or statement that I need to process, my face immediately transforms into my beach face. It’s a slightly angry, annoyed look that I am completely aware that I’ve made…. a split second after I’ve made it. It drives me nuts. I’ve even apologized to people and explained that it’s my default face in that situation. It does not mean that I’m angry, I’m just cursed with a terrible, terrible Thinking Face.
Trust me, if I were angry, I’d give you a Pleasant Smile.
Brad says
I wonder if this condition is something you can talk with your doctor about. Or maybe a plastic surgeon? Some of the movie stars I’ve seen have facelifts that kind of make them look like they’re smiling all the time.
Peggy says
I apparenty have a “Peggyland” face. That’s what my co-workers call it. When someone is
droningtalking on & on about something….going into what I would call way too much detail…I tend to zone out. I’m sure I start daydreaming or singing a song in my head. If this happens when there are several of us together, someone will say…”It looks like we lost Peggy to Peggyland.” I don’t know what my “Peggyland” face looks like though.(sorry to send all your readers into their own “lands” with this droning comment)
Jill says
At least you don’t have resting beach face. I feel bad for those people.
Lauren says
Heh heh. I wanted to link to that, but thought it might not go over well. (Funny, but many bad words.) 🙂
Jill says
I almost linked to it too!! But didn’t for the reasons you mentioned. I’m also working on a male version to the usually female beach face. It’s a guy who is usually too good looking, knows it, generally tries too hard, and is obnoxiously proud of his accomplishments. Loudly. I call it: cocky dou*** face. (I don’t like that word, but…it works in this case.) I’ve met quite a few CDF guys lately, for some reason…
Beth says
One of my most important jobs in life (my job) is to talk to future teachers about their “faces”. I actually give an assignment to all my students to go look in the mirror and practice their Neutral Face. And their Angry Face. And their Pleasant Smile.
An assignment people. Because there are far too many people in the world who have NO IDEA what their face is saying.