Well…maybe ten. Yesterday, boy #3′s teacher pissed me off. Now, I know my kids, I know when they’re misbehaving or when they’re not. I know when they’re telling the truth (90% of the time) and when they’re not. So when my kid gets an email because he’s failing a class and he all but freaks out telling me no way…I tend to believe him. Were he failing because he knew he hadn’t done XYZ then the excuses would start. Not indignation.

So cut to me emailing the teacher yesterday, telling her there’s been an error, my kid said he’d turned it in (we’d had a LONG talk about it when I saw the zero) then to her emailing me back telling me, oh no, my kid didn’t do said assignment therefore a zero. Don’t get me started on the part of the email where she tells me how *she* always checks her kid’s folder when “missing” work comes up (self-righteous bi… ), but she will talk with my son in class to get it straightened out. So I hold off replying until the kid get’s home.

As you might guess, my kid comes home and not only did he turn in the paper-which she returned YESTERSDAY (the day of the email)-with a perfect grade, she still says he has a zero and didn’t bother to speak to him. The paper sits on my desk and I write a pissed off response due to her condescending tone and the fact she gave him back the damn paper with a grade and says he didn’t do it. )okay yes, at this point the kid should have showed it to, but when she brushed him off already, he didn’t think she’d listen)

I had enough sense to send said email to the hubby first. He replied that it was harsh and we’d look at it when he got home from work. By the time he got home, I wasn’t *as* pissed and had conceded it should be toned down, until of course we started talking about it again, then I got all worked up again.

Let me just say…I know teachers work hard. And I know my kids can be…trying at times, but I’ve had issues with the gal before with #2 kid. He hated her and I am sure the feeling was mutual. She knows (so kid 3 says) that they’re brothers, so it’s hard to believe it’s a simple mistake. (Yeah, as I type this, I sound like every other parent who claims the teacher hates my kid…blah, blah, blah…but it is hard to get past it when you think they’re picking on your baby.)

Still, I think, if I take some time, before I send it, I will chill a wee bit and take out the parts where I basically call her an incompetent bully. That won’t do any good.

I will say, when I’m pissed l will usually hold off a day or two and 95% of the time won’t hit that send button, or will at least tone it *way* down. Do you rage-email and/or text? Or do you take the time to cool off before you hit send? Has it ever caused you problem? Did you later regret it?

UPDATE 2/26/13, 2:54 PM: so the teacher just emailed me back. To quote: “sometime when I put grades in they don’t show up”. In other words, “You were right, Mrs. McDonald”. No apology. No mention as to how the word “missing” got added next to the zero that she somehow didn’t get the grade in. GAW… I am angrier now than yesterday!!!!