What no one likes to see on their car

There are many things that people don't like to see on their car when they approach it; dead cats, bird poop, gangsters, meteors etc.... One thing that never makes people happy is when they see a florescent envelope under their windshield wiper.

Imagine my dismay when I had 2 students tell me they noticed a hot pink notice under my windshield wiper. My first thought was actually "Creepy stalker high schoolers! Why do you know which car is mine?" Not only was that my first thought but it was actually what I said out loud to them. They then pointed out to me that I have a name badge hanging from an air freshner hanging from my rearview mirror. Which is true. So it was my own fault that they knew it was my car. Since they obviously were right about it being my car I had to think hard about why I would have a ticket. They said that they didn't want to get in trouble so they didn't touch it to figure out what it was for. Since they told me this as class was starting I couldn't focus on the lesson as I mulled over the possibilities of why I would have a ticket. The class began brainstorming for me, "Did I have a Kearns high teacher sticker to enable me to park in that lot?" No, but I have a Granite sticker that lets me park at any school in the district. "Was I not completely in my parking spot?" I'm pretty sure I was when I left my car....

Luckily the lesson plan that day involved watching a little Oprah, that left me a little time to run out to the parking lot to check my car. (Don't worry I have an aide in that class to help the special ed kids and she's an adult and completely capable of watching the children. The only requirement she had was that I check her car for a ticket too) I get to my car and sure enough there is a bright pink paper with "Salt Lake County Sherriff" on the back. I grab it and flip it over to read my offense. There was a list of possible offenses including overnight parking and not having a permit. The box that was checked however, was the "other" box. The offense? "Please check for dead cats."

Turns out the students who warned me of the ticket are enrolled in a criminal justice class and one aspect of that class is to patrol the teachers lot. After finding my car (stalkers!) and telling their teacher (the school resource officer) the cat story he approved the warning. So they knew all along what the "ticket" was about. (They also reminded me that my license plates expire next month.)