Pay Day!- Written by Nader Musavi- 13 October 2018

Yesterday we had tickets for the movies and we took our students to watch a children’s film. Apparently, someone had called some days ago and given us the opportunity to take the children to the movies. My colleagues had thought it was a free offer and accepted. At nine, the boys and I marched to the cinema and the girls followed us. After I had shown the children to their seats and the movie ads had started, I gave my colleagues instructions regarding a few issues and then headed out. Apparently, after I left, the ticket seller had come up to my colleagues and asked them to pay. My colleagues were startled and told him “Didn’t you invite us to watch for free?” He then said “We only informed you about the free space in the cinema at that time and invited you to watch the movie, but we didn’t offer it for free!” To cut a long story short, the seller insisted that my colleagues pay for the tickets.

On the one hand there were teachers who hadn’t taken any money from the families, and on the other hand were the kids happily watching the movie. At last, my colleagues decided to pay the price, which was around 600,000 tomans (roughly US$140). Today, when I came to school, our schoolmaster told me the story. I told her it was good for the children, who got to start the school year with a thrill, and enjoyed watching the movie. But, next time someone calls up and invites you to something, you had better think again and ask whether it is a free offer or not so that you won’t be surprised like this!