Continuing the series of haiku inspired by drive test failures:
Three Incomplete Stops
Dad would yell so she could pass
Then he calls the state.
image sourced from walsho.net
Ninety-nine percent of the time, when I explain the results of a drive test to a teen, the parents sit by and say, "I told you . . ." I have found over the past few years, that I am almost never out of alignment with what the parents have observed. Occasionally, though, a parent will be so disconnected from reality that he or she can not accept that the teen made a mistake. The resulting soap opera is only made worse if the teen fails the test.
I don't know any professional tester who wants to be on a failing test. The "excitement" of the test is not enticing. We do not like seeing our lives flash before our eyes and we have an obligation to the state, the individual being tested, and the community at large to call the test as we see it. I will endure your daughter's crying and I will endure your fitful yelling if it means that I will not read your daughter's name in the weekend newspaper. There are far too many teens in collisions these days.
I am not sure what the yelling parent hopes to accomplish. Do they want to save the teen from embarrassment? Do they want to undo the results of the test? Do they want to show how loving and responsible they are? I suspect they just want their money back.
Message to the angry and disappointed parents: Your outbursts do not accomplish the above goals. When you rail, rage, scream, yell, and threaten, you are not helping anybody. In some ways, your failure is more tragic than that of your teen.
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