I got dissed by the principal of Royal College

Hells yeah it’s fun story time.

So I’m kinda running this non-profit organization where me and a bunch of volunteers wanna do one-hour interactive presentations in Colombo schools about harassment against women in public transport and places. You know, get kids involved in intervening if they see it happening, fighting negative social norms and all that jazz.

So me and two awesome other volunteers (one of them being a talented blogger living near you) were going around in the scorching sun (who else knelt down and gave the heavens a thumbs-up sign in gratitude when it finally rained last night?!) getting permission from schools to do these presentations.

Lo and behold, after bagging permission at five schools, we found ourselves at the entrance of the esteemed Royal College, often declared the best school on the island or something like that.

We’d dropped by once before and given the project’s proposal to the principal’s secretary, so he knew what the project was about when we walked into his office before being made to wait for 25 minutes.

He flipped through the proposal and said, You need to ask permission from the Ministry of Education to do this in our school…
Oh, okay, I said, dejected but thinking of our next alternative step already. I was going to thank him and leave with my colleagues… before he suddenly flipped a page and scowled and spat out-

But I mean, looking at the way y’all are dressed I don’t know if we can even let you into our school!
And he just threw the project proposal sheet across the table. Yes, threw.

I was wearing traditional islamic clothing, a shawl neatly pinned over my head. The other girl was dressed in a smart black pant suit, with her hair let loose but combed down. And the other guy was wearing a dark tshirt and jeans.

Okay, okay, before everyone who has ever had to deal with state owned schools gets on my case now – I know, we were told after by lots of people, that they expect people who walk into those schools to wear shirts and pants (not jeans and tshirts) and women to usually wear sarees. I get it, we were ignorant in that aspect and hadn’t done our homework.

But man, you should have seen the way he said it, and sat back with a smug look on his face. He might as well have said, GTFO, ya big sluts. My female colleague, a sensitive one, looked like she was going to cry. The sensitive little girl in me whose existence I constantly deny and suppress wanted to cry too. I mean, it’s not like we came in with beach shorts and spaghetti straps? And we were members of an organization and we spoke in english and really politely too. Overreaction much?

I was kind of stunned, getting that from a principal, didn’t see that coming. I said in surprise, That was rude. He shrugged. That was all he had to say apparently and he clearly wanted us to get the hell out. I said a quick insincere, Thank you, and we got up to leave. Before I left, I just turned around and very curtly told him, That was very unprofessional.

His comeback: Maybe.

ORLY?
I think he wanted to get the last word in but the comeback kind of failed.

Anyway, overall, that was highly entertaining. I was pissed off as hell at the time and was already thinking of who I could hire to take a shit outside his office. Chavie, a Thomian, was secretly overjoyed that his rival school now looked like a dick after its principal’s totally uncalled-for behaviour. The other friend, well she had been treated to a dose of bonafide douchebaggery and she was glad that at least now, any form of rejection she gets in future volunteer projects will pale in comparison to this one.

Oh well. Now take this poll!