To say the least

Today was... (say it like Shawn Hafle now) In....Ter....Est.....Ing,.... to say the least.
First off, it was a Friday in May, which of course means a Sub Job. My dad snagged it for me and I was happy that I got one. There were many things that made it In Ter Est Ing though:
The fact that the class was  4th grade class that switched halfway through the day with another class.
The fact that the other class that was switched with ALSO had a sub
The fact that there was an assembly- which is never fun for me as a sub- having to keep track of the kids that I bring in.
The fact that it was also a Fire Drill day- which for ANY sub is not fun- you don't know how many kids are there, you don't know them by name- and it is total chaos.
The fact that two kids accused me of "HITTING" them.
Yeah, that happened. ME! The least physical guy in the world. The one that wouldn't hurt a fly- well, a Bee or Wasp is a given- they gots to be taken down, but flys..... Well, flys too, they BUG (pun intended) me, but past Flys and Bees and Wasps.. oh and Hornets,... I can't and wouldn't hurt anyone.

So, here's the story. During Fire Drill my kids had to travel halfway across the world to get to where they stop for the fire drill- all the way across the field. There are around 2-300 more kids out there and of course I get a gap in my line. I walked back to shoo the kids forward. There were a few young men there that were holding up the line and goofing off. I said, C'mon, lets go, catch up with your line and with the fire drill roll/signal I shooed them along. They acted as if they got hurt. There is no way! These were a few prices of paper bound together and they were shooing towards them at about a mile and hour, no way it could have hurt them.
Anyway,
that was that. I did not hear anything about it until the very end of the day when the Principal (an actually really cool guy) came in saying that they were accusing me of this and wanting to get my side of the story. I gave it and he mentioned that mom's were here to talk to him about it. I told him I would be happy to apologize.

After a bit longer, he and the mom's came in and I did my apologizing. Granted, he knew that, after my side of the story, that they blew things up in their mind and there was no inherent harm done, but I was willing to take the blame for the "Hitting" and he was not upset at me.

It does really bother me though that a little thing like this could blow up into something that could ruin my reputation as a teacher. What if the parents and the principal were not grounded in the idea that they made more out of this than it really was. What if they took it as I actually "Hit" them. I could loose my job and career even before it started. It bothers me that a little action like I did which was not meant to harm, and any other kid would have just not taken it as anything, or at least shrugged it off; It bothers me that that kind of thing could ruin a career.
I still don't know if that sort of thing will have further ramifications on my subbing. Perhaps because of that stupid little incident, I will be blocked from teaching at that specific school again.  Who knows, if the parents made enough of a stink about it, it could be possible.

Whatever happens, or might happen, I know that I was not being abusive at all and was only wanting to spur these students forward. Is spur the right word? It sounds painful ;) Anyway, when I dwell on things that disturb me like this incident, I find it very helpful to vent to my Blog. So, there ya go. Now, I will not worry about it.