The Sub Is Sub Standard
LAZY/UNHELPFUL, NEW JERSEY, NURSES, SCHOOL, USA | HEALTHY | MAY 24, 2019
(I am in fifth grade, about ten years old. We are learning to play basketball in gym class, which is more or less just dribbling and passing. One of the boys in class decides, for whatever reason, to deliberately chuck a basketball full-force at my face. It hits me VERY hard in the jaw, and I hear and feel a loud snap in my mouth. The boy is made to run laps for the remainder of class while I am sent to the nurse’s office. Normally our nurse is great, and she knows me well because I am sick fairly often due to a weak immune system, but unfortunately, she is out today and we have a substitute.)
Me: *timidly* “Excuse me.”
Sub Nurse: *rudely and without looking up from her trashy “women’s interests” magazine* “What?”
Me: “Um, I got hit in the mouth during gym and I think I broke a tooth.”
Sub Nurse: *still not looking up* “You’re fine. Go back to class.”
Me: “But it hit really hard and I felt something crack. I really think my tooth is broken.”
Sub Nurse: *STILL not looking up* “You’re fine. Now go away!”
Me: “But you didn’t even look!”
Sub Nurse: *FINALLY looking up at me, glaring* “God, I am so sick of you kids making up stupid excuses just to get out of class for a few minutes! There’s nothing wrong with you. Now get back to class and stop bothering me!”
(I’m an extremely shy, mild-mannered child and I don’t know what to do, so I leave. Gym class is the second class of the day, meaning I spend the better part of three hours with a bruised jaw and a broken tooth. Finally, it is time to go home and I tell my mom what happened. She looks at my tooth, confirms it is broken, and takes me to the dentist, who easily removes the pieces of my tooth with a piece of gauze.)
Dentist: “Wow, you didn’t just break this; you snapped it clean in half! What happened, hun?”
Me: “A boy in gym class hit me in the face with a basketball.”
Dentist: *sympathetically* “Yeah, boys are dumb at your age. But why didn’t you go to the school nurse?”
Me: “I did. She wasn’t in, and the sub told me I was fine and to go away and stop bothering her. She didn’t even look at my tooth.”
Dentist: *silent for a moment* “I see. What school do you go to again?”
Me: “[Middle School].”
Dentist: “Okay. Well, here’s your tooth, [My Name]. I’m sure the Tooth Fairy will give you something a little extra, considering the circumstances.”
(The dentist gave a knowing smile to my mom, who smiled back. The next day at school the regular nurse was back and she apologized for what the sub had done. Apparently, my dentist had called the school after Mom and I left his office and told the principal what had happened. Mom got a VERY apologetic phone call from the principal!)
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