Let me set the stage. I had successfully completed my first two SLP (Student Learning Plan) meetings with my new homeschool families. I was feeling pretty confident and excited about meeting the rest of my families; I had three booked that day. The first was with a family whom I had connected quite well with already via email and I was really looking forward to meeting them in person. We will call the mom Reese Chan and her only child Debbie (grade 4). They live out in Langley, so I dropped the kids off at my in-laws in Surrey and carried on my way. I had actually asked Reese if I could come early because I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to talk before rushing off to my next appointment, as I had learned from the day before that the meetings were taking longer that I had anticipated. So I was to be at Reese's by 9:45am.
I downloaded all their contact info. from the Computer Program we use, so it was already in my phone. My GPS guided me straight there and I arrived a little early 9:40am. I start walking up to the front door and as I am walking,
I remember that one of my families had emailed me, to let me know that they lived in a basement suite. I knock on the front door. No answer. I'm scrolling through my emails on my phone to try and find the email from the family that says basement suite, and I can't find it. I knock again a little louder. Still no answer. Rather then snoop around the property, I decide to just call Reese's home phone number. No one answered the phone- I don't leave a message. Now I was starting to wonder what was going on. I walk around to the back to see if there is an obvious basement suite. There is a door with a covered entrance, but it looked too tidy in my opinion for a family to be living there. Meanwhile,
my cell phone rings, my caller ID says it's Reese! Yay- I've made contact! I answer the phone saying, "Hi Reese- its Jill, I'm here!" She replies with, "at my house?" I say yes, and she says she will come outside. I wait and no one comes out of the house. I call her back, and I say, "Reese, I'm afraid I must have the wrong address. What is your address?"
She gives me her address, but it is not the house that I am at. But then she says that her english is not very good, and that I should call her husband if I need directions. She gives me her husbands cell phone number. I write all the info. down, and read it back to her to make sure that I have it right, as she does have an accent, and I wanted to know that I had heard her correctly.
I look up the new address on google maps, (THANK GOD for my IPHONE!!!) and I see that I am only 5 minutes away, so I go straight there.
When I arrive- there is no house, it is a construction zone. I am so confused by this point. I am starting to wonder how it is that Reese could email me so clearly, yet have such little verbal English. I call her husbands cell phone number.
"Hello- this Jill, from Heritage Christian Online School, I am trying to meet up with your wife Reese and daughter Debbie, and I can't seem to get the address right." He says, "oh you're the teacher!"
He gives me the address, and it is the same as I had originally written down except that the street had an A after it. (You know like 88th
A street!) Finally, I feel like I am on my way. I go to the house, knock on the door. I hear a child and a dog.
A woman opens the door, she is East Indian (probably not Reese Chan!) and her daughter is 2 years old!!!!! I said, "Are you Reese?" She smiles and says no. I apologize and return to my van. At this point, I don't even know if this woman is the woman I was talking to on the phone, or what is going on. I was SO CONFUSED!!! Why would someone give out their address to a stranger on the phone???? Especially if they don't speak the language very well???
I email Reese, and ask her for her address. Meanwhile, the East Indian lady knocks on my van's window. She hands me her portable phone; her husband is on the line. I try and re- clarify their names, they are not Reese and Debbie!!! They are not registered with HCOS, and their daughter is not yet in school. He makes some comments about how they have been looking around at preschools for their daughter as they just moved here.
It sure would have been nice to have to been told that I had the wrong names BEFORE I went to their house??????
By this time, I have received the email from the REAL Reese, with the original address. I quickly email her asking her to call my cell, so that I can talk through the bluetooth, while I drive back to her house. on the drive back to her house, I conclude that the computer system has the wrong phone number for her!!!
It is a happy ending.
Reese was so gracious, even though I was now 45 minutes late. And thanks to her wonderful organizational skills, most of the nitty gritty was already communicated via email. We were able to cover everything we needed to talk about in the remaining time for her appointment. I took it all in stride, corrected the phone number, and had a little laugh about the wild goose chase that this East Indian family had just taken me on! Oh and I learned some important lessons.
1) Always double check the phone numbers and addresses of the families before you go.
2) And when you get an email stating that someone lives in the basement suite-
add that to their contact details right away, don't trust that your phone will push and save that info.
How's that for your second day, at a new job??????
