School; ID papers and sanctions

At R's school, not carrying your exercise book carries a penalty of instant punishment, even if the dog ate it or your mum spilled coffee on it, really it is the INEXCUSABLE.  Actually, everything is inexcusable.  So today, the very first time I am not here to supervise the filling of R's bag for school after lunch, he forgets the exercise book.  It is lying on the sofa.

20 minutes after he should have come out of school, the school office allows him to phone me to tell me that because he did not have the exercise book to prove that he is authorised to leave, he has to stay behind in detention for one hour.  What???  You mean the same office which has R's authorisation on file?  The same telephone which could be used to telephone me???  Perhaps he had an appointment at the dentist!  These guys would be good candidates for the  Milgram Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment.  They would definitely electrocute you to death rather than not apply a bureaucratic rule.

Now I will have to sign (with no occasion to comment)  a NOTE in the exercise book which notes the exact transgression which R has committed.  R will have been NOTICED, our reputation as the perfect mother/pupil team has been SMASHED.  I am DISAPPOINTED.

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Oh well, we held out for 2 weeks, not bad.