The one about Andaloo going back to school

Quite close to The Land Of The Smiling Mule is "Pleasantville", and unlike here Pleasantville is very shiny and posh. There's a school in Pleasantville, and in that school is a member of staff who's been signed off work for a month and I was asked to cover for her. My first thought was "ppfff, you've got to be joking, do you think I'm mad, it's been fifteen years since I did anything like that." Then I thought of all those little shiny students with shiny attitudes and thought, "no, definitely not. I won't do it. No.
So, I've been there a week now and really enjoying it. I'm not teaching, I'm more of a paper-clip monitor, but hey it has prospects.
On my first day I was asked to take the minutes of a meeting. It started well, apart from forgetting people's names so I couldn't note exactly who said what, but towards the end of the meeting it all went pair shaped. I got so interested in what was being talked about I forgot what I was supposed to be doing and just sat there listening. It wasn't until I caught myself about to chip in with my contribution that I realised I hadn't written anything down for about five minutes. Bugger!
The office has glass walls with blinds and my desk sits in a corner (I know, too much information, but keep up it's important). On the other side of the nearest wall is a common area used by the older students. NOTE ON SHINY LITTLE STUDENTS: These people are mostly taller than me, have beards (not the girls) and are surprisingly worldly wise. What they don't realise (or maybe care about) is that I can hear everything they're saying. No, I'm not going to repeat it here but I've had quite an education myself over the last few days. I had no idea a cigarette could buy so many favours!