Rulebreaker Creative Problem Solver?

This is a personal post, so if you’re only looking for search related stuff feel free to pass by. This weekend was my oldest daughters birthday. The school she attends lets you bring in cupcakes and juice for the class to celebrate. So last night we made 24 cupcakes and frosted them, put them in 2 aluminum trays and set aside a 64oz bottle of Juicy Juice. Being the overly thought out plan for everything in advance kind of guy I am planned to carry both trays of cupcakes, my daughter knew she had to open and close the doors beforehand after me, and she carried the bottle of juice double bagged in a plastic king kullen bag to prevent it from ripping through and dropping to the floor (yes that’s really how I plan).

We make it out of the house, into the car, park the car, up the path, and in the front door of the school. Once through the door the adult “hall monitor” stops me and says “you’re not allowed to go the classroom, I’ll have to bring it”. At this point she tries to take it from me but clearly isn’t prepared/able to manage two trays at the same time. I tell her “it’s ok I can carry them both ” (which I already am) and will be leaving right after that. She says no that’s against the rules, and that I have to put the cupcakes down on the desk and she’ll bring them to the class once all the kids are in the classrooms. Additionally we’ll have to leave the juice on the desk as well. While I wanted to tell her the foolishness of the plan I agreed.

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve got “authority issues” and following rules are not my idea of fun. However I’m not a “rule breaker” out of some sense of entitlement or priviledge. I’m a firm believer in the philosophy “Lead, follow or get out of the way”. I had already solved the logistical problem of getting everything to the classroom safely without any assistance. Now the cupcakes will sit on the desk in the main lobby of the school where hundreds of germ bearing children will pass by, many will come over and point or even touch, and possibly even knock over one of the trays (a remote but not unheard of possibility). Clearly this policy is meant to keep adults (well intentioned or not) out of the school hallways, and is a good thing. However a “rules is rules” policy is not the best solution to this or almost any problem. Lack of creative problem solving is clearly a fault in today’s world. Steadfast adherence to inferior solutions provide inferior results, and dooms our society to the quagmire of substandard mediocraty we now wallow in.

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