OK. Here’s the scenario. I teach in my own classroom at the jail. All the doors in the jail are solid steel, about 1000 pounds. We (the guards and I) want the door shut to close out the sounds of the booking station, but we don’t want it to latch, because the guards have to get the key to the box that holds the key to the box that holds the keys to the door. Left on it’s own, the very weight of the door will shut it, so we have to guide it slowly, right up to the latch until it’s stopped and let it go. I had a classroom full of students, each concentrating on his own computer with their backs to me. I stepped out to get some water. I came back in, and was slowly letting the door close, except I had my arm reached out behind me and I wasn’t watching. Well, a thousand pounds doesn’t have to be moving fast at all to bust the living shit out of your thumb when it gets caught between the door and the jam…it just has to lean on it a little! The door caught me right on the cuticle. The cuticle was bleeding, my nail was turning blue, and the underside of my thumb is bruising up pretty bad. It’s throbbing. (This happened about 4 hours ago.) Well, I didn’t want to bust up the classroom by screaming or cussing (teacher don’t cuss!) so I just sagged into my chair and said…“Whooo Sawwww” for a minute, and focused on not fainting or getting sick (odd how some physical pain can make you nauseous) until I had everything under control.
As my students were leaving I showed them my thumb. The couldn’t believe they were right there when it happened!
So…in THAT kind of situation, what would you have done? Basically, can you keep it together if you’re in a situation where you really CAN’T cuss and yell, even as a knee jerk reaction?