Smokin’ in the boys room

#SOL23, Slice of Life, teaching 1 Minute

I’m on hall duty, spending most of my time near the boys’ room on the first floor, the bathroom best known for its – ahem – popularity. Things have been largely quiet and then, abruptly, they aren’t. Literally. Laughter and loud voices echo out of the bathroom and into the hallway. I lean towards the entryway – there are no exterior doors to separate the washroom from the hallways, though there are stalls inside – and raise my voice: “Time to go to class!”

Brief silence, followed by a reply:

“We’re smoking!”

Gales of laughter billow out of the bathroom.

I dutifully contact the VPs, who dutifully arrive, and we dutifully shoo the boys out of the bathroom, smoke trailing behind them. They are almost giddy with their transgressions. We move them towards their classrooms.

After the kids have been, um, relocated, I chat briefly with one of the VPs. Shaking my head, I say, “There must be something we can do about this.” She laughs ruefully, “If you figure it out, let me know.” We commiserate about how this is a problem in every high school we know of, in schools around North America.

Having done what little we can, we both move off towards our next destination.

I’m halfway up the stairs when the old Motley Crue song starts playing in my head: “Smokin’ in the boys room/ Teacher don’t fill me up with your rules…” That song came out in 1989 – and yes, I remember it. I shake my head again, this time with a little laugh.

If anyone out there figures out how to stop the kids from smoking in the bathrooms, let us know. Until then, I’ll spend most of my hall duty near the boys’ room on the first floor.

Published by Amanda Potts

I'm a high school English teacher in Ottawa, Ontario. I read, write, walk & take a LOT of pictures. Sometimes my kids let me write about them. I use this space to think and write about teaching and living.

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9 thoughts on “Smokin’ in the boys room”

  1. It was really fun to read this. I like your style of narration. Fun, and funny, and timeless, and concluding with the perfect soundtrack.

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  2. Amanda! You have hall duty? Really? Gurl, that’s as bad as boys smoking in the boys’ room. I taught 38 years and never had hall duty, lunch duty, or bus duty. Y’all need a union! Solution to the smoking: Remove doors from stalls, which probably works best for the girls. Lock the bathroom, which is what my former school did to curb vandalism. Tell those kids to stop smoking and take up vaping. JK on that last one. They probably do that during class in class. Anyway, good luck to you and the admin.

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