Has this happened to anyone?

lookingglass

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My Step-Mom used to work at my high school, so a lot of her friends are former teachers of mine. Well, she was having a holiday party a few weeks ago, and I decided to pop over and help her. When I walked in, my Chemistry teacher was standing next to the Egg Nog. I went up and reintroduced myself. "Hi Mr Smith (his name has been changed) do you remember me from high school?"

Now, I said the last part wincing. I was a "difficult" teenager. He said, "Oh, Yes! And you don't have to call me Mr Smith. You can call me Joe."

I balked. I have so much respect for this man; I don't know if I can call him by his first name! It's so strange. There were more teachers there too and THEY all wanted me to call them by their first names too! I don't know if I can go there.
 

phenomsmom

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I agree that it is hard to call someone who has been a person of authority over you in the past and you are used to calling them Mr. or Mrs. so and so and now they want you to call them John or Jane!
 
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lookingglass

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Originally Posted by Phenomsmom

I agree that it is hard to call someone who has been a person of authority over you in the past and you are used to calling them Mr. or Mrs. so and so and now they want you to call them John or Jane!
What even stranger is I brought a tray of Lemon bars. He commented on how good they were. I told him a lot of what I do in baking I learned from him in Chemistry. He smiled and enjoyed another lemon bar.
 

luckygirl

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I don't think it's strange on his part, but I can understand how you'd feel strange!
I'm sure he was just trying to show his equal respect for you, now that you are an equal, an adult, and no longer a student....I am positive that was all he intended
. But, I probably would've said with a cute smile "oh no, I just can't call you JOE! You'll always be Mr. Smith to me!"
 

mirinae

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When I was growing up, my mother was a teacher's assistant, and a lot of her friends were teachers. In fact, my parents' best friends were a married couple who both taught high school, and one of them was transferred to my high school! By this time I was already calling this couple by their given names, because I'd known them both since I was 9 and when G got transferred to my high school, I was about 16 or 17. It was really hard to go from calling him "G" to "Mr D" while I was at school.

The other weird thing would be seeing my parents' friends -- who all taught at either my high school or my sister's high school -- at the parties my parents threw. I'd go from being taught by them Friday in class, to seeing them get drunk and act silly Friday night at my house, and then on Monday I'd have to go back to behaving as though I hadn't seen Mr H make a pair of lobsters dance while he was drunk ... Oh, and pool parties were the worst. It's next to impossible to respect your portly history teacher after you've seen him in a speedo.
 

icklemiss21

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My mum also worked at my school so we often had teachers over for parties when we were older and were there, they always told us to call them by their first names, eventually I got used to it.
 

satai

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Originally Posted by Mirinae

Oh, and pool parties were the worst. It's next to impossible to respect your portly history teacher after you've seen him in a speedo.
It freaked me out for years that my teachers had lives outside of school.
 
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lookingglass

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One of my BIL is a middle school principal. That's weird. I knew him when he was a bit of a wild child, so it's odd seeing him in a place of authority.
 

lionessrampant

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Originally Posted by lookingglass

My Step-Mom used to work at my high school, so a lot of her friends are former teachers of mine. Well, she was having a holiday party a few weeks ago, and I decided to pop over and help her. When I walked in, my Chemistry teacher was standing next to the Egg Nog. I went up and reintroduced myself. "Hi Mr Smith (his name has been changed) do you remember me from high school?"

Now, I said the last part wincing. I was a "difficult" teenager. He said, "Oh, Yes! And you don't have to call me Mr Smith. You can call me Joe."

I balked. I have so much respect for this man; I don't know if I can call him by his first name! It's so strange. There were more teachers there too and THEY all wanted me to call them by their first names too! I don't know if I can go there.
My old high school band director whom I am working with to get more students...he wants me to call him by his first name and it is SO WEIRD!
 

gemlady

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I did a presentation on rock and minerals at my old elementary school several years ago. Ran into my math teacher who still is a VERY handsome man. We hugged.


Sister's best friend is a teacher and I did a presentation to her class. I had to remember to call her Mrs. W instead of her nickname - "Dino". (Sis gave her that nickname. Oh, and my youngest greatnephew is in her class this year. Poor kid. (But he has known her all his life because her oldest son is his dad's best friend.)
 

ryn

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It really does feel strange meeting an authority figure from your youth and be equal adults all of a sudden. Finns don't call teachers Mr and Mrs, they are called by their first name or just teacher. So I would have felt really weird as a kid addressing my teachers so formally, from my point of view.
 

natalie_ca

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haha. I can relate.

I've run into a few of my former high school teachers over the years, and have even looked after some of their family members at work. I still call them "Mr...." and they still tell me to call them by their first name. I remember telling my biology teacher "Oh no! I can't do that! You'll always be Mr. Coulter!" LMAO
 

ericanicole

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Originally Posted by Bella713

Yeah this has happened to me, when I dated someone 5 years after high school, that was my b-ball coach
i sooo had the hots for my old history teacher!
One afternoon i was sitting in the teachers extra storage room that they used for mini conferences and storing paper and it also held that floors copy machine. anyways...
my psych partner and i were working on these brain models for class and we were talking (loudly) about which teachers we had crushes on and who we thought were just hot. I am mid conversation about how I would totally "do" mr.smith (thats what we will call him) when he walks into the room.

Now no one was in the hallway and the whole floor was quiet. I know Mr. Smith heard me. I dropped my head and didnt look up the whole duration of time he was in the room with us.
He left and i almost died.

Well....
shortly after that he become very interested in me and wanted me to help manage his baseball team, stay after to talk about college (it was my senior year) and just chit chat before class.....
I totally caught him checking me out plenty of times as i walked by him on my way to class.
AWKWARD IF YOU ASK ME!!!BUT I ATE IT UP!
im a big girl now and I wouldnt mind making a stop in his classroom if i ever went back to the school....

just kidding you guys..he's married.
 
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