Tag Archives: A Letter

Day 156: An Open Letter to the Toyota Motor Corporation

I would like to begin by saying I have been a loyal Toyota customer since 1998.  In the years of bad mortgages and sweet lease deals, I leased a Camry for a very cheap price.  I will admit, never did I feel taken advantage of.  Thus, when my lease was up in 2002, not only did I release a Camry, but my husband bought a Toyota, too!  Toyota, I have loved you for your dependability; I have loved you for your reliability; I have loved you for the amenities that you offer.

With that being said, Damn you, Toyota!  In this technologically advanced age that we live in, can you not design a mini-van that can keep its hub caps?  I mean, really, I know it’s a lease, but it’s not a rental!  I am not going to beat it up to turn it back in.  I expect you to represent.

I choose you Toyota because of your reputation.  (Okay, not the Toyota recall reputation.  At that time, people were like, “You drive a Toyota?” They were in disbelief that I was willing to put my life on the line day-in and day-out,)  You stand behind your motor vehicles, and when something is amiss, you are willing to admit fault and fix it.

Thus, I need you to admit that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.  I need you to admit that something went awry.  For whatever reason, the hub caps on the Toyota Sienna slip off at the slightest jousting.

Okay, maybe I am partially at fault.  I drove a Camry for so long, maybe I take turns a bit too sharp.  After seven years, maybe I still misjudge the size of my car. Maybe I have skidded across a curb or two.  Nonetheless, why can’t you engineer a wheel that can withstand a little bad driving?

Toyota, I deflect the blame to you.

Since I started driving the Sienna in 2004, I have lost seven hub caps.  Seven!  If that does not seem like a particularly abounding number, I will admit, on my last lease, I stopped buying hub caps in the second year of my lease after I had lost my fifth hub cap.  Seemingly, I could have purchased dozens more.  Instead, I swallowed my pride and went hub cap-less for four years.  With this current lease, I lost both passenger side hub caps within six months.  I cannot afford to continue to replace them (you know, the economy and all); I have no choice but to mitigate my own self-worth and drive an automobile that is poorly constructed.

I have been scarred.  Last week, I had the windows unrolled; I had forgotten about the physical appearance of my car.  I was stopped at a stop sign in one of the nicer neighborhoods of town.  I looked at a passerby and tried to smile.  She ignored me.  I thought I saw her mouth, “White Trash.”  It couldn’t have been that she was listening to music and singing along to a song.  No, it had to have been the appearance of my car.  I have been reduced to White Trash because of your failure to create a wheel that can keep a hub cap, and I am seriously contemplating psychological counseling to get over the trauma of this experience.

So, Toyota, I beg you, please fix this problem.  I am not the only loyal customer who has dealt with this issue.  I see Siennas all over the roads with the same problems.  I am calling upon you now  to fix this problem.  Do not let another middle class American mom experience the pain and trepidation I have experienced.  Do not allow another loyal customer feel the shame that I feel.  It is time for you to take a stand, Toyota, and fix this problem.

Do it for soccer moms.

Do it for hockey moms.

Do it for spelling bee moms.

Do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Day 116: Oh No, She Didn’t!

I promised myself when I became a teacher I would never be that parent.  I have dealt with overbearing, unreasonable parents, and I know that many times, they do not and cannot see clearly when it comes to their own children.  We live in a society where personal responsibility is deflected because someone is to blame.  I promised myself that when my children reached school age, I would not be the parent calling the school and creating a stink; I would make my children take responsibility for their own grades and actions.

With that being said, yesterday, I felt that I needed to be that parent.  I needed to at least speak up for my daughter who was afraid to speak up for herself.

To preface my story, Carson is a good student.  In the four years since she has been receiving letter grades, she has only had a B on her report card once or twice.  She likes school, she is a voracious reader, and she loves learning.   She is the type of student who works on projects and writing assignments on Friday night so that she has ample time to edit and revise.

Yesterday was 4th quarter progress report day.  Her school sends itemized progress reports that delineate each assignment.  When she got into the car, I cheerfully said, “Let’s see it.”  She burst into tears. I grabbed the report and scanned the grades. Two Fs!  Carson has never received an F in her life, and here she was with two of them.

I calmed her down.  I knew she would not intentionally avoid an assignment or sabotage her own grades.  I asked her to explain to me what happened.  Carson told me her teacher missed two days of class two weeks ago.  In her absence, a substitute was hired to conduct class.  On each day, she had handed out assignments for the kids to do.  The substitute did not understand the assignment fully and she ended up confusing the students.  She said she was not the only one who received Fs.

“Did you tell Miss T_____________?”  I asked.

“Yes,” she said.  Tears started to flow down her cheeks again.  “She said we couldn’t blame the substitute because we couldn’t follow directions.”

Oh no, she didn’t!  I was furious.  As a teacher, I know what can happen when a substitute covers class.  Sometimes assignments are done incorrectly.  I also know that if my best and brightest said that the substitute was confusing, I would give them the benefit of the doubt.

So what did I do?  What I love to do!  I composed a letter.

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 Dear Miss T__________, 

I am not upset about the progress report brought home today.  As long as my girls are trying their hardest and doing their best, I am proud and content.

However, I do think Carson tries exceedingly hard, and I feel that two of the grades on this progress report are bogus.  Each assignment was accomplished under the tutelage of a substitute teacher.  I understand that you chastised the students after you graded the assignments and told them that they should not deflect blame onto a substitute, but instead, they needed to take ownership for not reading the directions and doing what the assignment asked.

In Carson’s defense, she said she did read the directions but the substitute teacher confused her.  First, I would like to address the Subtracting Integers assignment.  She said she knew to change the sign and subtract, but she said the substitute said if both were negative than the rules changed.  She listened to the instructions of the teacher that was present, and because she listened to the substitute, she received a 15/54. 

The second assignment in question is the preposition assignment.  Carson said that as a class they had been working on adjective phrases, so she was thrown by the switch to prepositional phrases.  Secondly, she said a fellow classmate asked a question and when the substitute could not answer the question, she asked the class for a consensus on the correct answer.  It is obvious to me that the teacher did not understand the assignment herself, so by asking for a consensus, she thought the students as a collective whole would be able to help each other.  Obviously, she was incorrect in this assumption, and from what Carson has reported to me, the majority of the class failed this assignment.

I have been teaching for fourteen years and I know when students are trying to pull the wool over my eyes.  Nonetheless, when I have good students score so egregiously poor on an assignment that I left with a substitute, I question 1. My assignment, 2. My substitute, 3. The instructions I left with my substitute, and then I give my students the benefit of the doubt.  I would hope that you would agree with me that our job is not to punish students for misunderstanding, but to encourage their growth and understanding.

I would hope that you offer the students enough opportunity to pull up their grades.  Carson is very upset by these assignments and I do not want her to develop distaste toward school at the end of the year.

If you would like to discuss this with me, please feel free to call me. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my grievances.

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I am happy to report that Miss T____________ called me at the end of the school day, and she plans on offering ample opportunities for the students to improve their grades.

Day 17: Say it in a Letter

I love writing letters. Today, I wrote this letter of request:

January 23, 2012

Dear Mr. Coca-Cola Delivery Man:

May I start off by extending my sincere gratitude to you for providing our staff and students with satisfying and thirst quenching beverages.  Twisting off the cap of a bottle always brings the air-tight freshness of bubbles and fizz.  No wonder that in the 70s so many people wanted to buy the world a Coke.  It truly is the real thing!

Secondly, I would like to thank you for delivering to the 900 workroom regularly.  You are not aware of this, but we had problems getting the last delivery service provider (i.e. the Pepsi man) to come to the back of the building and deliver us soda.  We would go weeks at a time without different types of pop in our machine.  It was disastrous.  Not only would my colleagues be deprived of their favorite beverage, but Pepsi themselves lost business.  But you, Sir, you deliver regularly, and it is a delight to know anytime I put my dollar bill into the machine, a cold refreshing beverage is waiting for me.

We do have two small requests.  First, the advertisement on our machine is for Coke Zero, yet we do not have Coke Zero in the machine.  Would it be possible to take out one of the lesser bought beverages– say the Iced Tea– and replace it with Coke Zero?  Secondly, although Ginger Ale is delightful liquid refreshment for pregnant women, the elderly, and the infirmed, I do believe that my colleagues would much prefer Sprite.  The lemon-lime flavor is so refreshing, and for those trying to avoid caffeinated beverages, I think they would much prefer Sprite over Ginger Ale.

Lastly, thank you so much for taking the time to read my letter.  I think I can speak for the entire 900 Workroom when I say that your products keep us hydrated and help us do our jobs better.

Thank you,

Cheryl  Huffer