- Joined
- Dec 26, 2006
- Messages
- 593
This happened a couple months ago, but I've been wondering if anything like this has happened to anyone else.
My old B.smithi had molted a while back just before she died (post-molt complications) and I wanted to take the exuvium to school to show some friends in my art class. So I put the exuvium in some paper towels and put the towels in a plastic cup. Well, the class that comes before art is math, and in that class I don't usually socialize with anyone but the teacher, who happened to notice the cup on my desk.
She wanted to know what was in the cup so I told her she might not like it and might freak out. She got curious and I could tell she was getting suspicious (she'd heard about my smithi before then and would frequently suggest different pets that would be much better for me).
So to keep from getting the cup thrown out the window, which she does when she suspects something that's not allowed in school, I took out the paper towels and completely forgot to confirm that it was just a skin.
Riot. What else can I say. XD She went crazy! Running out of the room screaming. The entire class stood up; half of the class gathered around me asking what was in the towels and the other half was screaming and running out of the room. I refused to show the skin again. It was awful. :8o One girl who's deathly afraid of all kinds of the simplest, most harmless animals (squirrels, turtles, etc.) started crying. I'd never felt like such an idiot then.
But this did have a nice ending (sort of). Everyone in the class came back in as well as the teacher (after being told it was just the skin and not the actual spider) and over and over I had to keep showing the exuvium to different people who wanted to see it. Most people seemed very interested, and even the arachnophobic teacher came over and petted the skin. I got to answer lots of questions but still felt pretty bad for the uproar. The teacher brought the whole class over to the freshman science teacher's classroom so I could show him and his class, where more people got to ask questions.
The math lesson eventually started (30 minutes or so later), and people now think of me as that weird tarantula girl, even though as some put it, I "don't look like someone who would like those things." :wall:
Ever since then her awareness hasn't changed much, but she still occassionally asks about my new Ts and after that will usually say "...how about a kitten? Kittens are much nicer!" (Who needs a kitten? My A.genic will attack and pull on some string when I drop it in her tank; she's my cute little kitty.)
Has anyone else attempted to raise better awareness for Ts but end up causing a huge riot like that? And did you cool it down?
My old B.smithi had molted a while back just before she died (post-molt complications) and I wanted to take the exuvium to school to show some friends in my art class. So I put the exuvium in some paper towels and put the towels in a plastic cup. Well, the class that comes before art is math, and in that class I don't usually socialize with anyone but the teacher, who happened to notice the cup on my desk.
She wanted to know what was in the cup so I told her she might not like it and might freak out. She got curious and I could tell she was getting suspicious (she'd heard about my smithi before then and would frequently suggest different pets that would be much better for me).
So to keep from getting the cup thrown out the window, which she does when she suspects something that's not allowed in school, I took out the paper towels and completely forgot to confirm that it was just a skin.Riot. What else can I say. XD She went crazy! Running out of the room screaming.
The entire class stood up; half of the class gathered around me asking what was in the towels and the other half was screaming and running out of the room. I refused to show the skin again. It was awful. :8o One girl who's deathly afraid of all kinds of the simplest, most harmless animals (squirrels, turtles, etc.) started crying. I'd never felt like such an idiot then.But this did have a nice ending (sort of). Everyone in the class came back in as well as the teacher (after being told it was just the skin and not the actual spider) and over and over I had to keep showing the exuvium to different people who wanted to see it. Most people seemed very interested, and even the arachnophobic teacher came over and petted the skin. I got to answer lots of questions but still felt pretty bad for the uproar. The teacher brought the whole class over to the freshman science teacher's classroom so I could show him and his class, where more people got to ask questions.
The math lesson eventually started (30 minutes or so later
), and people now think of me as that weird tarantula girl, even though as some put it, I "don't look like someone who would like those things." :wall:Ever since then her awareness hasn't changed much, but she still occassionally asks about my new Ts and after that will usually say "...how about a kitten? Kittens are much nicer!" (Who needs a kitten? My A.genic will attack and pull on some string when I drop it in her tank; she's my cute little kitty.)
Has anyone else attempted to raise better awareness for Ts but end up causing a huge riot like that? And did you cool it down?
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