Wednesday REALLY stressed me out.  At the end of the day, I sent an email to the principal asking him for help in setting boundaries.

Then I got in a note in my box telling me of a meeting with him at noon.  I thought it was in response to my email, but no, it was in response to the incident in my classroom on Wednesday.  Principal said that there would be a meeting in his office, 4:00 pm on Friday with the other teacher, myself, him and the associate principal of instruction. 

Seems the other teacher was very upset and angry with me and was threatening to "take me out".  Seriously, he said that twice.  I do know how to handle these situations, taught well in AFROTC in college, and again in tech support at TI.  Basically the customer is never wrong.

I am seeing a PhD psychiatrist right now due to the stress at the end of the last school year and something we talk about a lot is setting boundaries.  I was already booked to see him last night, and he reiterated that position.  Husband felt the same way.  And of course I know it.

The best way to win in a confrontation, is to make the other person feel that they won.  In fact, it's even basic clicker training.  I'd already decided that I needed to apologize for her hurt feelings and acknowledge that perhaps I should have taken the issue out in the hall.  However, I do know that after this incident, no one in my sixth period class is going to pull out a cell phone, and probably no adult.

To my surprise, shortly after 8:00 am this morning the other teacher showed up in my room and walked to talk to me.  I was very taken aback since she'd threatened me, but I allowed her to stay and sit down, and she was willing to leave a student working in the classroom who needed help.  I was glad I had someone there to get help if I needed it.

I started by apologizing for her hurt behavior and that I should have discussed with her in the hall.

She started then by complimenting my classroom management skills and apologizing for her behavior, especially her conversation with the principal.  Of course, all is forgiven and I did ask her for help in learning to deal with people.

Mentioned us computer types would prefer working in the basement with a room for of computers and please throw us snickers once in a while -- a combination of my shrinks classification and my husband's.

Man is life fun.