Entry 29: Hall Monitor

Why would you let someone walk all over you every day? Especially if you were given the chance to do it to them…

Day by day, I marched down the halls with my sash and megaphone, giving orders left and right. It didn't matter how ridiculous or unnecessary my orders were. I was hall monitor! If I didn't like the way someone was acting, I pulled out my ticket book and wrote them one that would make them reconsider their actions. Man was it a sweet gig!

Sweet as it was, it wasn't one that could last forever. I stood beside Wartz at the end of the month on the stage of the auditorium, requesting another turn. Hey, he basically said I was the best they had ever had. Why wouldn't he let me have another turn?

"There comes a time when every hall monitor must hand in the sash."

I stood there with no choice but to pick my replacement. It didn't matter how unfitting for the job she was, she's the only person I'm close with.

"Okay, I pick Phoebe."

She found my decision to be as crazy as the rest of the school did. I wasn't going to let the job go to someone like Princess or Pink boy. People I wouldn't be able to count on to give me my executive privileges in the lunch line.

It didn't matter what my reasons were or the amount of faith I had in her. Pheebs still found it to be one of the most absurd decisions anyone had ever made pertaining to her.

At first, I felt she may be overreacting. The moment I saw how easily trampled she was her first day on the job however, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"Pheebs I admit, when I first picked you, I had my own interests at heart. But now it's a challenge."

I spent the night training her after school; showing her how NOT to show people mercy. She's not one to butt into another person's business. If someone turns down a request from her, she's willing to overlook it. Well, that's not what being a hall monitor is about. You don't REQUEST things from people. You DEMAND them!

Once she had finally gotten the hang of it, I could see how on top of the world she was. That new feeling of power she had never experienced before. Being in control as opposed to being a sidekick. Giving orders rather than taking them from people.

It was just as sweet watching her do it as it was having the job myself. That is, until I realized helping her improve the strength of her position, didn't put me on the same level.

"Hey no cutting!"

"Executive privileges! I've got my eye on that last tapioca!"

"Pataki no cutting!"

"Haha good one Pheebs. That rule is for little people. I've above the law."

"No one's above the law. I'm going to have to write you a detention slip."

"Phoebe get real! Helga Pataki doesn't do detention. I've got tickets to the monster truck show. I was going to take you."

"No you get real Pataki. You said not to let anyone push me around."

"When I told you not to let anyone push you around, I didn't mean ME!"

Yeah, I should have thought that one over. Talk about being a good student. Half the class spent the afternoon in detention, watching her sit on her hall monitor throne. My telling her not to let people walk all over her seemed to make her believe no one liked anything about her. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Everyone loves the way she's willing to lend a helping hand, a listening ear, or a friendly face. That job turned her into something (the last thing) anyone expected to see from her.

Funny how hard it is to find an in between for things. It's important to know how to stand up for yourself to avoid being walked all over. It's not admirable to do it in a way that implies you're nothing but bossy and demanding.