Me...Scary?!

Pure hilariousness. Today was my first day with the current new hire class for work - I teach them this week, manage them from multiple locations next week, and then teach them again the week after that. They didn't get to meet me until today for the first time, but I sent out a welcome email last week, that also included some of my expectations for them for the next few weeks, and then a bunch of pre-work for them to do before today.

Here's the funny part - we all went out to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner (a group of 21, wowzas!), and after a superb afternoon with them all (really, really great...energetic, fun, we bonded...), they admitted to me at dinner that they were incredibly relieved when they met me right away today and realized I was "fun, nice, not scary." What?! Apparently I sounded very serious, and basically terrifying, in my first email to them (and I'm sure all the assignments didn't help!). Maybe this really isn't that funny, but knowing myself and my teaching style, I find it hilarious that these 19 people spent a couple of days worrying about meeting me, pleasing me, and living up to my expectations. I mean, maybe it's good to instill a little fear in them when they're first starting...but still...I kind of think I'm one of the least scary people around...right?!?!

I'm sure the fact that I give every participant in my class a nickname helped ease the situation pretty quickly too. I haven't dubbed everyone quite yet (I put thought in my nicknames), but here are some that are already set after our first afternoon/evening together - G-train, E, Jiffy Pop, Broom Ball, A-dog, Jewel, and T-pain. So there are 13 left to deem.

They picked up on this right away and decided to come up with a nickname for me as well...they said they'd still like to think some more, but the first attempt for me was "Biebs" because they think I have Bieber fever. Oy vey.