I remember seeing this a while ago but it resurfaced this morning on a YahooGroup that I'm a member of. It made the rounds on email so you may have already seen it but it still makes me chuckle.
Incidentially, I checked it out on Snopes and, while the circumstances surround this story are true, the message was never actually placed on the answering machine.
"This is the actual answering machine message for Pacific Palisades High School in California. This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children's absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children's failing grades changed to passing grades -- even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough schoolwork to pass their classes.
The outgoing message:
"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to all the options before making a selection:
* To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1
* To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2
* To complain about what we do - Press 3
* To swear at staff members - Press 4
* To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5
* If you want us to raise your child - Press 6
* If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7
* To request another teacher, for the third time this year - Press 8
* To complain about bus transportation - Press 9
* To complain about school lunches - Press 0
* If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework and that it's not the teachers' fault for your child's lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!"
Update on a previous post:
I'm not sure if this qualifies for the official Number Three spot but 92 year old Vincent M. DeDomenico Sr. the co-inventor of Rice-A-Roni (The San Francisco Treat!) died last Thursday - the same day as Joey and Deborah. Just sayin'.