Sign-In Sheets: Fill & Download for Free

Not so much an argument as a complaint because I caught them in a scam.Three years ago, the Chicago Teachers’ Union was re-negotiating their contract with the city, and things weren’t going well. My daughter went to a Chicago public high school at the time.Her school, like many public high schools, did not send report cards home to parents. Parents had to come in and pick up the report cards. Students would get the day off of school that day, and any time between 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. parents could come to the school and get their child’s report card and meet with any of their child’s teachers, all of whom had a designated spot in the cafeteria.Upon walking into the school, parents were greeted by two teachers who had a sign-in sheet. I was told I had to sign in before I proceeded to the cafeteria, where the report cards and teachers were.I looked at the top of the sign-in sheet, and it wasn’t a sign-in sheet at all. It was a petition to show support for the Teachers’ Union and demand more money for teachers from the city. I refused to sign it, and walked past the teachers and into the cafeteria. They seemed shocked.I should mention that I’m not opposed to the Teachers’ Union per se. I am opposed to them tricking all of the parents into signing a petition of support. I’m a teacher in Chicago too, but not in a union. And I’m also a Chicago taxpayer. My property taxes were raised 66% a few years prior to this, to cover shortfalls in teachers’ pensions. Over-promising politicians in the past created problems in the present that I have to pay for, and I don’t appreciate it.Anyway, I wrote a well-worded letter to the school about how shady that tactic was. They just want to have “proof” that the majority of parents support the teachers. All they really have is proof that not everyone reads what they sign when they’re told to sign something.The next time I went to get her report card, the Teachers’ Union people were still there with a petition of support, but they were off to the side and weren’t telling people they had to sign the petition before proceeding.

I’ve written before about the time my oldest daughter’s Chicago Public High School had a “parent sign in sheet” that was actually a statement of support for the Chicago Teachers’ Union. I’ve also written about how the freshman student/parent orientation at her school was about ten minutes of “orientation,” and an hour of “how to get free things from the government.”I have a positive “wait… what?” experience from her elementary school, though.One year, her teacher asked if I’d be available as a last-minute substitute chaperone for a field trip. I checked my calendar, confirmed I was free, and agreed to do it. I wasn’t really paying attention to the field trip’s destination.It turned out that the “field” they were tripping to was Wrigley Field. Her school was close to it, and the Chicago Cubs have a lot of day games there, and they give out free tickets to school groups from the area for those day games.So I got to spend the day with my daughter and her friends, watching a Cubs’ game, all for free.

I had taken my young son to a dentist appointment with a new dentist. We were moving out of state soon and wanted to make sure he had no issues as I didn’t know how long we might have to be without insurance.It was a new office to us. We got there several minutes before our 7am appointment and signed in. There were a few other people already waiting, then more joined. I was thinking, I hope they all don’t have 7am appointments. There was only one dentist!We were waiting to be called, it was now 7:10 am and no one had even looked at the sign in sheet at the front desk. There were office staff and hygienists just standing around talking and laughing. No one ever acknowledged the full waiting room.7:15. Still not one person was called in for their appointment. Still no acknowledgement of any of us sitting in the waiting area. Still standing around talking.7:25. Same thing. Finally I got up and went to the front desk explaining I had a 7am appointment and needed to get my son back to school afterward. Then for the first time she picked up the sign in sheet and looks at it. Then she hands me a stack of forms to fill out. I said no one has been called and it’s almost 7:30, how much longer is the wait going to be?She says, well we just got here and have to pull files. I said no, you got here at 7am and have been talking the entire time. She said, well we haven’t pulled them because the dentist isn’t even here yet. I said “So then WHY haven’t you told the people waiting that their appointments are going to be delayed? People make appointments for a reason you know!”I was furious at the lack of professionalism so we walked out. I had to explain to my very young son what happened and why we were leaving. I wrote a letter to the dentist about how his patients were treated with disregard. I doubt it ever made it to him, but I felt better for writing it.A good front office staff should be the goal of every doctor and dentist. I actually left one doctor that I actually liked because his office staff was so bad.