Only In the South…

So, I work at a college and this past weekend was move-in weekend. To those of us that work that weekend, it is organized chaos. You keep a smile plastered on your face, answer the same question repeatedly and literally try to make people as happy as you can. Not only am I an educator and an administrator, but I am in the customer service business and it never ends. Currently, we are in the “Welcome Week” process and it really won’t be done until Labor Day, or we won’t be in a settled routine until then. It is for this reason that my friends have pretty much accepted that they won’t see or hear a lot from in August… ever. So, I apologize if there aren’t a lot of blogs on here in the next week or so… pulling 10-15 hour day after day and week after week for a month can make it difficult to find time to write.

However, I have to share some observations from the first few days of move-in and welcome that point out how far I am into the South.

–          It is hot as hell and I am running around on move in day, hauling giant containers of water and not batting an eye at the amount of sweat pouring off my body… I have gotten used to the heat of move in day.

–          Two parents got in a fight on move-in day while standing in line to move into a residence hall. Some conversation occurred that had tempers flaring, one father threw a punch. The other father started to lift his fist to punch back, but he said, “ No, we are not going to do this, we are the parents. We are not going to wreck our daughters’ first day of college.” The father who was hit and said this, also opted to not press charges. The father who threw the punch was from Jersey. The well-mannered father? Charleston. Manners. They do manners really well there. Welcome to the South.

–          At an event on Sunday, a freshman went on stage to accept an award on behalf of the freshman class… he wore a pink tie and a full seersucker suit.

–          At that same event, I saw a father in a head to toe seersucker suit, with boat shoes. His wife and daughter (the college student) were in matching Lily Pulitzer dresses and pearls.

Oh the South, how I love you. But you make me chuckle at times 🙂