Picture Day (Really)

Picture day is never a great day. I am far from what you would call photogenic. I remember back when I used to teach at Coffee High School, when it would come time to take faculty pictures for the year book, the yearbook advisor would send around this student with a digital camera and the backdrop would be your classroom door. I hated these pictures. Either the student did not know how to work the camera or I would not be prepared for the picture. I guess that is why I never bought a yearbook.

This fall was Joshua’s first year of school. He started Pre-K and of course, every time the moon changes it seems, they are always taking professional pictures. I came time for Joshua to take his yearbook picture and we dressed him up and sent him to school. About a week later we got the proofs back to place our order. All you could see of my 5 year old was his nose, chin and neck. The photographer some how had screwed up the picture. Well I said, no problem, we will just wait until next week and do retakes when they come back. When next week came, Joshua’s teacher sent a note out that said for all students taking retake pictures, there is a $15.00 sitting fee. I thought this was ridiculous. I contacted the photographer and explained the situation and he politely told me that he would not be responsible for my child’s inability to stand still. I could not believe that this nut was taking aim at my son. I told him, you only took a picture of half of his head! Well, needless to say we had it out, I paid the $15.00 for the retakes, but I made sure he knew that I did not appreciate the way he ripped people off. By the way, this year we have a new company taking pictures for our school. Seems like school board members do not like getting ripped off either.