The Usuals versus Not-Usuals

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What will you take sir?

"The usual"

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"Should I show you our new stock ma'am?"

"Nopes, the usual..."

Sounds good, sounds fair!

This thing about the "Usuals"...

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Here's another scenario:

My daughter came home one day… There was a rift in her class: a group of girls got into an argument, and things turned a bit messy. My daughter stood her ground and countered their bullying attempts with such sharp comebacks that I imagine the other girls just stood there thinking, “Wait, did she just... win?” There were some 'b' 🤬 words involved. I don't encourage this kind of attitude usually, but you ought to shut up the bullies. So yeah!

Eventually, the principal got involved. After hearing about the issue, she ended up favoring the "usual" (prefects/ monitors) group and even asked them to decide who was in the right and who wasn’t.
The principal didn’t just take sides; she went straight to the “usuals” and asked them — yes, the very ones involved in the dispute — who was right and who wasn’t. Can you imagine anything more absurd? Giving power to the same students who are already favored, while the rest are sidelined yet again. It was like asking a group of foxes to guard the henhouse.

And then came the grand finale - I was summoned to the principal’s office. She started her speech in full form, with, “I asked the girls to tell me who was wrong and who was right.” I stopped her right there. “Really?” I said. “And you thought they’d be unbiased? Did it even occur to you to let my daughter share her side of the story before deciding who’s guilty? Or before asking the usuals?”

“Were you expecting a fair trial or a popularity contest?”

The principal didn’t seem too thrilled with my feedback, but honestly, I couldn’t help it.

And then came the drama of the dreaded ‘B’ words. I didn’t even bother justifying it. I simply said, “It won’t happen again.” But honestly? Of course, it could, especially if bullying and favoritism like this keep making special guest appearances. I can't make any promises. 🤷🏽

And also that's not the point of this post right now. Hihi

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Now there's another scenario with the 'usuals'.
Totally unrelated to me. 😉

I happen to stumble upon a dialogue... Or a monologue or whatever...

A task going on but the organiser didn't give the Highest marks to the "usual". Ouch

Here comes the divine intervention:

"Why the usual got low score? He has written MORE than the not-usual". Followed by tagging the 'unusual' ... (Lol make as many antonyms as you want).

(Well, I wouldn't mind this intervention if I were that 'usual'. It’d probably feel pretty great, honestly. Lol. But nope, I'm not. And that's totally fine... I guess!)

The poor evaluator practically "babbling" sir "more" was not required in this task... And still reassuring the intervention, that they would not make this mistake again. They would favour the "usual" in the next task!!!!

Now, I really can’t say if this was a case of favoritism from the teacher towards a specific ‘unusual’ student, an honest error in judgment, or if the grading was actually fair. I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t have a stake in it.

But what I do know is that when things like this happen, everyone else just sits back and enjoys the show - especially the ‘usuals.’ Meanwhile, the ‘unusuals’? Well, you can probably imagine how they felt. “Exposed,” perhaps? Like someone had just switched on a spotlight they weren’t ready for. Not fair, I guess...

As for the evaluator, they should’ve stuck to their guns if they believed they were fair. Why change the grades just to avoid getting on the wrong side of the intervention? If you're confident in your judgment, stand firm! Otherwise, what was the point of this grading? Or were you really guilty of being negatively biased towards the 'usuals'? Come on, you can’t be! Fair is fair; no matter what!

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Disclaimer:

_{The events, characters, and dialogues presented in this piece are purely fictional and meant for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or otherwise, or actual events in the Steemverse is purely coincidental. This satire is intended to bring a smile (or a smirk) to your face and should not be taken seriously.}

_{No usuals or divine interventions were harmed in the making of this content.}