Teacher livid as mum tells her she should be ‘ashamed’ of her outfit at a concert

A woman was horrified when she was reprimanded by a parent for her choice of outfit, despite not being at work at the time, leading to a a dispute between the pair

If you are a teacher, you expect to have to follow a dress code when you are in school. But you might not think you need to take your job into account when picking outfits to wear on your days off. After all, it is not something most employees in other workplaces are expected to do.

Well, one teacher ended up in a bitter argument with a parent after bumping into them one weekend, as the mum thought the worker’s date night outfit was inappropriate given her occupation. While the teacher was not in the town where she works, or on the job at the time, the parent still thought the teacher should be mindful of her role when dressing.

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And she blasted the worker for “not looking out for your job”, telling her she should feel “ashamed”. However, the woman was quick to defend herself, explaining why she did not think she had done anything wrong. Posting to Reddit’s “Am I the A*****e” forum, the teacher shared her side of the story.

She wrote: “I (29F) went to a concert with my husband over the weekend. Well not really a concert but a local (but more well known) band was playing at a fall festival. My husband and I are friends with a member of the band too. It was in the same county of where I teach (6th-8th grade) but not the same town. Also not the town where I live.

“I’m sure you all guessed this has to do with my appearance. And yea, it does. I stay in shape and my husband and I like to have fun. We have our beers and enjoy dancing to the music. It was decently warm out, I wore cutoff shorts and a long sleeve top that was essentially just sleeves. Like my arms and shoulders were covered but my entire midriff was showing. My husband likes when I show off my side tattoo and my long dream catcher bellybutton ring.

“Lo and behold, a parent (who I do not recognize) comes up to me and asked if I teach in the district because I looked familiar. I’ll just provide an outline of the convo. (After clearing that I work in the district) Woman- haha you sure look ready to party!

“Me- yes! My husband and I don’t usually go on dates much because of his work schedule! We are so happy to be here! Woman- are you worried about parents or your students running into you? There are families here…

“Me- well not really, my students are old enough to understand I don’t live at school. They also know I like live music. Woman- you do know a lot of kids come to these events to hangout too..

“Me-oh well, we are all here to enjoy the weather and have fun! (I’m smiling the entire time, hers has since faded) Woman- it doesn’t bother you at all that students may see you drinking or showing that much skin?

“Me- again, I don’t live at school (my smile is now gone) Woman- I’m surprised you’re not looking out for your job at all. You’re dressed like a college s***. And not to mention the beer..

“Me-okay. You’re done. I don’t need a lecture from the outfit police. I’m just trying to have fun with my husband. Woman- frankly, you should be ashamed.

“Me- don’t ever approach me again, b****. I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not on the clock (starts walking away, makes eye contact, downs the whole beer, and winks)

Her post concluded: “Husband was impressed with how I handled it and agreed that woman was way out of line. I’m thinking I may have been wrong because husband called me everyday this week after school and asked if anyone said anything. I said no but he’s a little worried if the lady might come forward.”

In response, people were quick to side with the teacher, arguing “people should mind their own business.” However, many also advised caution, like one commenter who wrote: “I believe teachers are entitled to a life outside of their jobs.

“Yet, you never know if Negative Nancy will show up to the next PTA meeting with pictures demanding your removal because ‘is this type of person who should be teaching our children?’ Is it fair? No. Is it right? No, because people should mind their own business. Unfortunately, I have heard a few stories of these incidents happening though.”

And several teachers shared that they had faced similar reactions in the past, much to their disbelief.

One commenter claimed: “I used to teach. Part of why I left was that many districts are far too willing to punish teachers based on parent complaints of outside of school activities.”

A second said: “I have been teaching for 26 years, 20 of which were in the same town I lived in. My principal got a call once from a parent that she saw me walking into a liquor store.”

And another wrote: “A parent once phoned the school I worked at to report that she’d seen me buying vodka in a local supermarket!!!

“She wanted to know if my school thought that was appropriate behaviour. Thankfully, the school had my back and just laughed at her, but I’ve since worked in places that absolutely would have taken her side and I’ve heard horror stories from colleagues about similar events.”

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