Many teachers are happy to go out of their way to help parents and children with things that are outside of their job description. But sometimes parents expect things that would require a teacher to spend a lot of extra time and effort on. So much so that they are forced to take a step back. In a similar situation, Katie Larson – who goes by @ktlarson27 on TikTok – had to firmly say no to a parent who was asking her for a big favor.
“Okay, I’m having a good day today,” Larson began. “Yesterday a parent asked me for a class list so they could invite all the kids to the birthday party, and I’m invited to the birthday party too.” She said, “Very nice. Said no problem. Today a stack of invitations came.” The teacher added, “I thought, I guess I’ll just put these in the mailboxes later. So, no problem, we’re outside all day, the last 20 minutes of the day. I wanted to do it.” The woman would stuff the invitations and mail the envelopes, since none of them were stuffing, but that was fine with her.
She got ready to drop them off at the end of the day and opened them. “Only the first invitation was labeled. None of the others,” the teacher said. “That parent sent me a message later that day with the information and I thought it was for me because I was invited.” Larson revealed that the message said she was expected to write all of the invitations and send them to all of the students. “I replied that I can’t write all of those invitations and sent them home with the class list,” she explained. “No, I can’t,” the video concluded. In the caption, the teacher explained that it was “new” for her and she had never been asked to do anything like this before.
The video received over 754,100 views and more than 26,200 likes. People took to the comment section of the video to support the teacher, expressing that it wasn’t fair to expect such a big favor from someone who is already overworked. @shoppergurl shared, “Due to privacy reasons, we are not allowed to give out a class list. Also, we tell parents that they can stand outside the classroom at the end of the day and hand out the invites. That’s not our job.” @hands_in_the_mitt expressed, “The fact that parents think teachers have time to address and fill out party invitations. We don’t have time to go to the bathroom, ma’am!”
@jamieee2460 revealed: “A parent came by with party bags, party games, and party food and asked when their child’s class party was scheduled so they could come back.” @amyatkinsaloonai commented: “This happens all the time with Valentine’s Day gifts. They just send a sealed box of Valentine’s Day cards and expect the teachers to write names on them and put them in envelopes.” @bbfu7714 wrote: “The same thing happened to me! And the day of the party, the mom canceled an email telling me to tell the kids and their parents to just leave the gifts on the porch.”
You can follow Katie Larson (@ktlarson27) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.
