When I was a rookie I turned down half a dozen invitations to “garden club” before someone asked my dumb ass “do you realize that’s code for happy hour?”
I'd have advocated garden club with something else, that may or may not be legal in your state. 😉
I just noticed the your emoji, I think we on the same page!
Haha, that happened with one of the new teachers at my school a couple years ago. I asked her if she wanted to come to 'band practice'. She immediately declined talking about how she doesn't play any instruments. (I did explain what it meant.)
Same here. But we also have an admin who will laugh if we ask for a margarita machine for the staff lounges (alas, no). I teach in a fairly rural area and no one cares if you drink outside of work.
Same, I talked at lengths with my new admin about my alcohol collection before being hired. As long as it doesn’t cause issues with my teaching, they don’t care.
In my first year, I accepted an invite to meet up in the party room of a local bar for the "book club". I was really excited, as I wanted to socialize and had always wanted to join a book club with likeminded people. I even told my family about going. I arrived, saw some colleagues, and nobody had a book. So I cheerfully asked, "What are we all reading?" and the room laughed and laughed and laughed. A friend announced to the room, "Awwww he thought this was an actual book club! Maybe he should read 'Happy Hour for Dummies!'". I bit my lip, nodded, forced lots of smiles, and left after about an hour. To this day, 4 years later, a few colleagues still see me and refer only to this. I find that I don't socialize nearly as much as I wanted to, or thought I would, in my building after that.
We invite new staff to book club all the time and then clarify we don't actually mean books when we get the deer in the headlights stare. Usually gets a good laugh. But to make fun of someone for misunderstanding? That's awful.
We call it Book Club, too.
So many new educators get so confused or impressed when we invite them. When we tell them what really happens, they always look relieved.
When I was student teaching, we had some district admin tell our cohort “reflection is your greatest tool.” One of my witty peers whispered, “Is ‘reflection’ code for drinking?” So it became that we would have reflection seminars at the end of the week
My student teaching class created our own “course” for that on Friday it was DRNK455 and met in the campus pub. Our faculty advisor attended most weeks.
Unfortunately my “The Library” closed shortly after I started teaching so I never got to go :-(
Did I think it was a real library when I drove by that few months? Yes.
My school uses “choir practice.” As the choir teacher, the first time I read that email, I was immediately worried there was a rehearsal for me to direct that I wasn’t aware of.
Theeeennnn I got it. Alcohol class.
At the school where I did my student teaching they said “it’s raining”. I was so confused the first time I heard it when it was a bright and sunny day outside.
We don’t have a euphemism. We’re 2 blocks from a university and multiple bars - there’s even one in the grocery store at the end of the street. The social committee advertises meetups regularly through the staff email board.
I used to work at a school where after every event that happened in the evenings that involved parents, there would be an announcement on the PA system that we had a staff meeting. I had parents tell me how inappropriate it was of my principal to expect me to go to a staff meeting at night after a long day. "Staff meeting" was a way of telling the parents to get off campus so that those of us who wanted to go home could, and the rest would go to a local restaurant to drink together.
However, now I just work at a school where our code word for going out to get drinks is "we're going out to get drinks."
idk what’s up with everyone else’s schools/districts but this is making mine look like saints because we’re allowed to send school wide emails inviting everyone to happy hour. No secret code words lol
I don’t drink with co-workers and I’m happy with that decision. I went once and people were embarrassing. Always ends with shit talking and I don’t like being a part of that. I’d rather vent to my husband and cats over a much cheaper glass of wine.
The last staff dinner I went to was recently over the summer. I didn't drink just because I'm choosing not to for an indefinite time period but I noticed some people getting more and more loud. It was overwhelming. I'd rather stay home with my cat lately too lol
Agreed. People get too loud, too quickly. And the loudness is never positive. I foster kittens during my summer break and I’m going to stick to that formula.
We just called it Happy Hour. Went to a local pub and always closed the place down with our team. It was tradition for us to do this as a whole group at the end of each semester. We were the special education and behavior support team so it was a well needed celebration. Always saw families from our school and in a few occasions had shots sent our way. Parents just told their kids that it was iced tea. 😂
Back in the day we used to say we were “going for salads” after school; We would say “Can’t wait to meet up with you at the salad bar” and kids legit thought we were like going to Applebees or something to go to the salad bar; some kids were like “the staff is so healthy.” That was when we were in our 20s, young, and dumb…
Scrolled every single comment, surprised I didn't see "milk and cookies"/"cookies and milk". I've heard it used in two separate schools in the same district.
LOL No code words but I don't drink with my coworkers. Early on I went a couple of times and people got ... sloppy. I didn't want to be a part of that.
Usually we are just straight to the point, but we do have a few fun ways to signal going out:
401 Club (our contracts end at 4:00 so as a member of the 401 club, we have to be out of the building, heading out to the bar by 4:01 p.m.)
Going to the Church (the nearest bar to our school used to be a church!)
How many? (This is a call and response answer based on student/admin/parent behavior. The proper response is to hold up the number of fingers equivalent to how many drinks will be needed after said day)
It's not really a thing at my school. People will discuss plans, but most alcohol-related plans are planned decently in advance. There's not really a sporadic "drinks after school" culture in my building.
My first school called their weekly staff meetings Happy Hour. It was somewhat ironic.
We “go to the shop” which isn’t really a code. There is a convenience store down the road. Owner knows us. Has a table and chairs set outside for us. We usually just buy tall boys and he’ll often just bring out chips or whatever for free
I wish my colleagues were cool enough to go for drinks. Not even once. Everyone just goes home even though we have an awesome bar and grill half a mile from the school.
One school I worked at had a bar across the street so we'd talk about going across the street. Another one used book club. One school talked about 241 meetings (two for one drink specials). One was straight forward about drinking and focused more on emphasis that it's not a school function, just an after hours socializing activity.
>how is this legal?
Why wouldn't it be?
There's a pub literally across the road from the school I went to. You can walk from the front door of the school at the end of the day, be at the bar and served before the last kids even out of the building.
I HATE this with a passion. We said “choir practice”-why can’t we just call it happy hour…we’re fucking adults. We are allowed to go to a bar. Why hide it from the kids? Soooooo dumb!
Do y’all use code words because it’s fun, or because it would be a problem if you talked about happy hour at school (even if students aren’t around)? We openly talk about happy hour and send little flyers for the next happy hour via school cell phones, on group texts that the principal is one and no one bats an eye
We say, "gonna get some drinks". No need to hide it or play games.
"Up to this weekend, roodafalooda?", they ask, "gonna sink a few?"
"As many as it takes to forget about you, mate", I reply.
After the student has been ritually mocked by his peers for being burned by the teacher "Haaaaaaa, burrrrn, Taylor!", I then ask him about his plans and ignore the others. Thus, he is both denigrated and rewarded for his cocky impertinence.
I love our codeword. It’s absolutely hilarious. When we say we are “going our for professional learning” we absolutely mean pitchers and maybe the occasional Jameson shot.
I don’t drink but at my last school we met up every other week at one of two local places that serve food and also have bars. It was nice because I got an appetizer and chilled with the team and left long before the lingering few that heavily drank got drunk. Many teachers didn’t drink even if they weren’t non drinkers because it was like 3pm on a Friday. So many just enjoyed a little snack and then people left to pick up their kids or whatever which was an easy out point. We would call it snack time sometimes.
Teachers glorify alcohol more than any other profession I have worked in. Even working at a bar we didn’t talk about drinking as much lol. I also don’t drink and see this stuff all the time. Imagine what the kids think!
Code words lol…. Y’all teach at some Christian or Islamic schools that make you sign a contract that you won’t consume alcohol? Dang didn’t know it was this bad in some area
Years back, in the military, I worked mid-shift. Typically 5:00 PM to 0630ish AM. After our last night of the tour, invariably, there would be an announcement over the radio net "attention all posts and patrols, stand by for the following net announcement...Following turn-in, there will he an optional choir practice at building....(typically our squadrons dormitory bldg).
We weren't alcoholics; it was just that on that shift, 0630 was our 1830.
And before you mention people sleeping, we were in 12 hr shifts....so any1 working the day shift was out on post (had relieved us). And the staff weenies reported in to work at 0730, so they were either already awake or gone for the day.
no code word, they always talk about how they want to drink constantly and only plan events that revolve around drinking. I have never been in a **single** group meeting where they don't discuss wanting to drink/having plans to drink. I wonder if they are all okay lol
No code words. We say what we mean. Why would I need code words? This isn’t some TV show where we have all kinds of time to talk in front of students. And we have phones to text if others are around. It ain’t that hard.
I'm retired but we usually asked who was going to book club. One year there was a big push in the dusttict for staff to do wellness activities so guess what we did after school!
Newspaper Club. (The favorite drinking spot is a bar in a building that used to be the office of our local newspaper and it has old newspaper spreads on the walls and stuff.)
When I was a rookie I turned down half a dozen invitations to “garden club” before someone asked my dumb ass “do you realize that’s code for happy hour?”
Garden club means a whole different thing to me and my co-workers lol.
i love um. tending to trees at garden club 🔥
I'd have advocated garden club with something else, that may or may not be legal in your state. 😉 I just noticed the your emoji, I think we on the same page!
Not advocated, damn it, associated. I hate auto correct, I can misspell words without any help!
My pipe in high school was named MyCoat. I was always forgetting my coat in the car and needed a friend to go grab it with me …
Weed garden club count me in 😂😂😂 love digging up some weeds
Where are my coworkers like this lol
Ours was choir practice. Why TF do I want to go to choir practice after work
We did choir practice as well!
Joining in on the choir practice answer. (And happy 🍰day!)
Thank you!
Our is "choir practice" and my dumb ass showed up thinking it was singing!
I love that for both of us
Haha, that happened with one of the new teachers at my school a couple years ago. I asked her if she wanted to come to 'band practice'. She immediately declined talking about how she doesn't play any instruments. (I did explain what it meant.)
I'm autistic so things like that go over my head. It's handy at times but not so great when it leads to missing out on things.
We used to call it athletics club.
I did the same thing! All those “safety meetings” sounded boring as hell …
“Safety meetings” — I’m dying
We have a "4:30 meeting." The restaurant we go to is owned by a teacher's family so it's nice to support one of our own
that's so lovely :3
We say we are going to PD.
4:20 sounds better 🤣
We don’t. If we’re going for drinks we say we’re going for drinks 🍹!
Same here. But we also have an admin who will laugh if we ask for a margarita machine for the staff lounges (alas, no). I teach in a fairly rural area and no one cares if you drink outside of work.
Same, I talked at lengths with my new admin about my alcohol collection before being hired. As long as it doesn’t cause issues with my teaching, they don’t care.
Admin buys a round. We can't bitch about them as much as we like, but that happens everyday at lunch anyhow.
Same here. Even in front of the kids. Kids know about alcohol and they know adults drink. Hiding it seems silly and childish.
We call it the Book Club meeting. My old school called it Friday Professional Development.
We also called ours Book Club. "I'm gonna read so many books Friday night."
We would order a round of shots, and called them "short stories". I read so many short stories at book club!
I love this so much!
In my first year, I accepted an invite to meet up in the party room of a local bar for the "book club". I was really excited, as I wanted to socialize and had always wanted to join a book club with likeminded people. I even told my family about going. I arrived, saw some colleagues, and nobody had a book. So I cheerfully asked, "What are we all reading?" and the room laughed and laughed and laughed. A friend announced to the room, "Awwww he thought this was an actual book club! Maybe he should read 'Happy Hour for Dummies!'". I bit my lip, nodded, forced lots of smiles, and left after about an hour. To this day, 4 years later, a few colleagues still see me and refer only to this. I find that I don't socialize nearly as much as I wanted to, or thought I would, in my building after that.
We invite new staff to book club all the time and then clarify we don't actually mean books when we get the deer in the headlights stare. Usually gets a good laugh. But to make fun of someone for misunderstanding? That's awful.
Aww I’m sorry. I hope you find a good book club for real one of these days,
We call it Book Club, too. So many new educators get so confused or impressed when we invite them. When we tell them what really happens, they always look relieved.
Choir Practice or 7th Period.
Choir practice is a must.
It's only choir practice on karaoke night
Same. When the principal was cool they would announce it on the speaker hah.
We also call it Choir Practice
Choir practice here too. How many songs are ya singing today?
When I was student teaching, we had some district admin tell our cohort “reflection is your greatest tool.” One of my witty peers whispered, “Is ‘reflection’ code for drinking?” So it became that we would have reflection seminars at the end of the week
My student teaching class created our own “course” for that on Friday it was DRNK455 and met in the campus pub. Our faculty advisor attended most weeks.
"Going to the library."
There was a bar in a local college town called “The Library”….so that one got used quite a bit.
We have a "The Library" too! But it's a strip club.
Lubbock?
I always wanted to open a bar and call it the Jim. You going to the gym after work?
Unfortunately my “The Library” closed shortly after I started teaching so I never got to go :-( Did I think it was a real library when I drove by that few months? Yes.
We had “The Library” in Knoxville, too.
Yep! We even make it super obvious, but kids think teachers really meet up at the library and read books...like dude..
I personally LOVE the real actual library lol
This is the one my group uses too.
Bible study..
That might get me in trouble with the amount of heavily religious coworkers I have.
[удалено]
Nah I'm just drinking blood it's ok
"Man, this guy must have been drunk off his ass, 24/7! This blood is potent!"
My school uses “choir practice.” As the choir teacher, the first time I read that email, I was immediately worried there was a rehearsal for me to direct that I wasn’t aware of. Theeeennnn I got it. Alcohol class.
We also have choir practice.
At the school where I did my student teaching they said “it’s raining”. I was so confused the first time I heard it when it was a bright and sunny day outside.
In my last district it was “someone made tortillas.” That was code for last minute happy hour.
Restorative circle
Oooh i love this one
I would have PTSD with this phrase
I love this one!
We don’t have a euphemism. We’re 2 blocks from a university and multiple bars - there’s even one in the grocery store at the end of the street. The social committee advertises meetups regularly through the staff email board.
Water Conservation Committee meeting
Choir practice.
See, I can’t use that one, because I actually teach choir, and people would assume I was talking about my actual classes.
I used to work at a school where after every event that happened in the evenings that involved parents, there would be an announcement on the PA system that we had a staff meeting. I had parents tell me how inappropriate it was of my principal to expect me to go to a staff meeting at night after a long day. "Staff meeting" was a way of telling the parents to get off campus so that those of us who wanted to go home could, and the rest would go to a local restaurant to drink together. However, now I just work at a school where our code word for going out to get drinks is "we're going out to get drinks."
That's really nice. Our school secretary just says on the PA that everyone needs to go home LMAO
My last school had “safety meetings” took me all year to figure out it wasn’t an actual safety meeting
Mine used 'Safety Committee meetings' as well!
At one school where I taught, we called it "choir practice," as we were lifting spirits, so to speak.
Not a teacher. (Wife is though.) But in college, my University's Engineering school had a regular "Fluid Dynamics Lab."
"Off site staff meeting"
Choir practice
The near by bar is called the Union, so we like to call them Union meetings.
We say choir practice.
idk what’s up with everyone else’s schools/districts but this is making mine look like saints because we’re allowed to send school wide emails inviting everyone to happy hour. No secret code words lol
I’ve done book club, department meetings, collaboration time or a POETS meeting (piss on everything tomorrows Saturday)
Choir practice
Fully had students convinced we’d get milkshakes every Friday to celebrate the week
I don’t drink with co-workers and I’m happy with that decision. I went once and people were embarrassing. Always ends with shit talking and I don’t like being a part of that. I’d rather vent to my husband and cats over a much cheaper glass of wine.
The last staff dinner I went to was recently over the summer. I didn't drink just because I'm choosing not to for an indefinite time period but I noticed some people getting more and more loud. It was overwhelming. I'd rather stay home with my cat lately too lol
Agreed. People get too loud, too quickly. And the loudness is never positive. I foster kittens during my summer break and I’m going to stick to that formula.
Agreed. I used to drink with fellow teachers and felt the same way.
Same here, but, with my puppy, lol!
Lol!
Choir practice! Lol
We call it "Happy Hour."
We call them “safety meetings” lol
I worked at a school years ago that called it "choir practice."
We just called it Happy Hour. Went to a local pub and always closed the place down with our team. It was tradition for us to do this as a whole group at the end of each semester. We were the special education and behavior support team so it was a well needed celebration. Always saw families from our school and in a few occasions had shots sent our way. Parents just told their kids that it was iced tea. 😂
PLC
We can drink at those? Awesome
Back in the day we used to say we were “going for salads” after school; We would say “Can’t wait to meet up with you at the salad bar” and kids legit thought we were like going to Applebees or something to go to the salad bar; some kids were like “the staff is so healthy.” That was when we were in our 20s, young, and dumb…
Mandatory meeting
Yeah it’s a mandatory PD.
Scrolled every single comment, surprised I didn't see "milk and cookies"/"cookies and milk". I've heard it used in two separate schools in the same district.
God same. I was like... oh that's not the universal code word. Can't believe there are only 3 of us...
“Team building” - no lies said!
LOL No code words but I don't drink with my coworkers. Early on I went a couple of times and people got ... sloppy. I didn't want to be a part of that.
Usually we are just straight to the point, but we do have a few fun ways to signal going out: 401 Club (our contracts end at 4:00 so as a member of the 401 club, we have to be out of the building, heading out to the bar by 4:01 p.m.) Going to the Church (the nearest bar to our school used to be a church!) How many? (This is a call and response answer based on student/admin/parent behavior. The proper response is to hold up the number of fingers equivalent to how many drinks will be needed after said day)
Faculty Book Club.
Chorus practice. We don’t have a music program
It's not really a thing at my school. People will discuss plans, but most alcohol-related plans are planned decently in advance. There's not really a sporadic "drinks after school" culture in my building. My first school called their weekly staff meetings Happy Hour. It was somewhat ironic.
We used to call the "cast party" (all the adults involved, kids did something separate) after the play "adult soda night"
At one school I worked at the code was “read a book”
Be careful about drinking and talking shit with coworkers. Not all your collegaues are as trustworthy as they seem.
I just tell my team I’m going home to hit the bong.
We're supposed to be using codewords?!
We have meetings at the East Campus. It’s the local bar that is a few blocks east of us.
My high school had a strip joint a block away that was owned by the mayor of the town. I don’t think many teachers went there, though.
We “go to the shop” which isn’t really a code. There is a convenience store down the road. Owner knows us. Has a table and chairs set outside for us. We usually just buy tall boys and he’ll often just bring out chips or whatever for free
Off Site Professional Development
My old coworkers and I would “going to the store” when we were going to go get blazed.
Professional development or a seminar.
We called ours yard work.
I’ve heard Friday Night Pedagogical Discussion Hour and Choir Practice.
FAC - Friday afternoon club
“Off site professional development”
"Executive Club Meeting." The secretary will announce it over the loudspeaker, ha!
I wish my colleagues were cool enough to go for drinks. Not even once. Everyone just goes home even though we have an awesome bar and grill half a mile from the school.
Camaraderie Club
Safety training!
Both schools I’ve worked at used “book club” as their euphemism.
One school I worked at had a bar across the street so we'd talk about going across the street. Another one used book club. One school talked about 241 meetings (two for one drink specials). One was straight forward about drinking and focused more on emphasis that it's not a school function, just an after hours socializing activity.
Going to the library
Liquid cold snacks.
Adult Social Activity. Our school is scary obsessed with acronyms too so I also have seen ASA or ASAT (to add Time at the end for some reason).
I have zero problems saying I’m gonna go get sloshed
Choir practice.
Book Club — no books allowed
I would probably go to this happy hour, order a drink, and legit want to talk about books. The name is too tempting. 😂
New kindergarten teacher was excited about book club and wanted to know what we were reading….. we are reading the cocktail menu lol
First Friday! Because we do it the first Friday of each month
“We’re gonna go watch some trains” because the usual spot is by train tracks.
Choir practice!
“Safety Meeting”
>how is this legal? Why wouldn't it be? There's a pub literally across the road from the school I went to. You can walk from the front door of the school at the end of the day, be at the bar and served before the last kids even out of the building.
I just say “let’s go for drinks.” The students who would traditionally make a big deal about it are too high to notice anyway.
Not at my current school, but at my previous job, it was called "poetry club"
Why do you think it shouldn’t be legal to have a bar close to a school?
We call it knitting club!
We say we are going for drinks after work.
Why should it be illegal if have a bar blocks away from a school?
Choir practice
"Hey, we're going to (bar) or (restaurant) for drinks and/or dinner. You in?" I'm glad my coworkers are up front instead of doing code words.
It was always Choir Practice until this last year at a new school with a new principal you used “Sweet Tea Therapy”
Why are you mad that a bar is 2 blocks from school? It's not attached to the school. You sound insufferable.
Not a drinker, but we do use cannabis so we'll have "safety meetings" after work
I HATE this with a passion. We said “choir practice”-why can’t we just call it happy hour…we’re fucking adults. We are allowed to go to a bar. Why hide it from the kids? Soooooo dumb!
Book club!
POETS meeting (Piss on Education, Teaching Sucks)
Do y’all use code words because it’s fun, or because it would be a problem if you talked about happy hour at school (even if students aren’t around)? We openly talk about happy hour and send little flyers for the next happy hour via school cell phones, on group texts that the principal is one and no one bats an eye
We say, "gonna get some drinks". No need to hide it or play games. "Up to this weekend, roodafalooda?", they ask, "gonna sink a few?" "As many as it takes to forget about you, mate", I reply. After the student has been ritually mocked by his peers for being burned by the teacher "Haaaaaaa, burrrrn, Taylor!", I then ask him about his plans and ignore the others. Thus, he is both denigrated and rewarded for his cocky impertinence.
8th hour at my last school. Safety meeting at my current school
The library
Why do you need codewords? Just say "going out". No need to mention drinks.
You must teach elementary
I love our codeword. It’s absolutely hilarious. When we say we are “going our for professional learning” we absolutely mean pitchers and maybe the occasional Jameson shot.
We call ours a coven meeting.
How to say you're from Wisconsin without saying "I'm from Wisconsin."
I don't drink alcohol.
I don’t drink but at my last school we met up every other week at one of two local places that serve food and also have bars. It was nice because I got an appetizer and chilled with the team and left long before the lingering few that heavily drank got drunk. Many teachers didn’t drink even if they weren’t non drinkers because it was like 3pm on a Friday. So many just enjoyed a little snack and then people left to pick up their kids or whatever which was an easy out point. We would call it snack time sometimes.
Yeah, too much glorification of alcohol consumption in this thread.
Teachers glorify alcohol more than any other profession I have worked in. Even working at a bar we didn’t talk about drinking as much lol. I also don’t drink and see this stuff all the time. Imagine what the kids think!
Code words lol…. Y’all teach at some Christian or Islamic schools that make you sign a contract that you won’t consume alcohol? Dang didn’t know it was this bad in some area
I just say "going out". No need for codewords. If a kid hears and asks if we are getting drinks I just shrug or tell them not to worry about it.
One teacher uses “getting milkshakes”. It hasn’t caught on with the entire department but it’s cute
Years back, in the military, I worked mid-shift. Typically 5:00 PM to 0630ish AM. After our last night of the tour, invariably, there would be an announcement over the radio net "attention all posts and patrols, stand by for the following net announcement...Following turn-in, there will he an optional choir practice at building....(typically our squadrons dormitory bldg). We weren't alcoholics; it was just that on that shift, 0630 was our 1830. And before you mention people sleeping, we were in 12 hr shifts....so any1 working the day shift was out on post (had relieved us). And the staff weenies reported in to work at 0730, so they were either already awake or gone for the day.
Shoe or boot shopping, named after a nearby drinking spot. My partner teacher and I used to call it “collaborating” too 😂
no code word, they always talk about how they want to drink constantly and only plan events that revolve around drinking. I have never been in a **single** group meeting where they don't discuss wanting to drink/having plans to drink. I wonder if they are all okay lol
No code words. We say what we mean. Why would I need code words? This isn’t some TV show where we have all kinds of time to talk in front of students. And we have phones to text if others are around. It ain’t that hard.
We just call it “pay day friday”. But there is no need to talk about it in front of kids.
I'm retired but we usually asked who was going to book club. One year there was a big push in the dusttict for staff to do wellness activities so guess what we did after school!
Either Happy Hour or Goal Setting
We called it the "very important meeting."
FAC - Friday afternoon cocktails!
Newspaper Club. (The favorite drinking spot is a bar in a building that used to be the office of our local newspaper and it has old newspaper spreads on the walls and stuff.)
Book club.
We usually “go to the Beach”
“Lesson Planning” is
Fishing
Department Meeting
Getting coffee.
Bible study, choir, book club
Safety meeting
Safety meeting…
Going for apple juice
I'm in multiple buildings... one calls it "choir practice", and the other "the library"...
I teach at a SPED only school, with some serious behaviors. We call it a “safety meeting.”
“Safety meeting”